Autumn Twilight (Windwalker Chronicles 8)
by LemurKat
Summary: Sunstar follows the awkward quest for romance.
1. Default Chapter Title

_ElfQuest (c) Pinis; Windwalkers (c) me. Lyrics (c) Cathedral, from their doomy days._

For more information on the Windwalkers, visit my homepage (one of many) - [http://members.nbci.com/Sharna"][1] Come here if you are confused!.

# 

**Autumn Twilight**

Tongue tasting moonlight   
A tribute to my pain   
we could last for never (another game?)"   
- Cathedral 

The silver fish darted about in the water currents. Suddenly a missile powered down from above, sending them scattering in a silver flurry. On the bank crouched the forlorn shape of a golden haired girl. Her arms were in the form of wings and she appeared to be watching the ripples spread about the water. She was unhappy, that much was clear from her posture and the way she was maliciously throwing rocks into the water.

It had not been an easy few moons for the young elf, not since the birth of Magpye's daughter. The child was as dark-haired and pale skinned as her father, with the lungs of something many times her size. It had been Sunstar's job, as the mystic of the flock (second only to Skysong, but the old bird was bedridden with spring fever at the time) to present the child to the flock, and to discover her name. As she had first taken the child in her arms, she had been shocked at how easily the name came to her. And moreso what that name was. For the tiny infant was named Lorrelei. The name had so startled Sunstar that she had almost dropped her. Lorrelei was dead, and had been dead for over 20 000 years. She had been one of the true-blooded elves, who had been slaughtered by humans shortly after arrival to the World of Two Moons. She had died in a glade and her spirit had permeated the earth. It was she who was responsible for the Windwalkers' wings and their immortality. It seemed that finally that spirit had been reborn. Which probably explained the child's crankiness – if you had been trapped in the ground for twenty thousand years, you would be a bit anxious to be born again, and then be angered by your inability to do everything you wanted to because you were just too young. Sunstar knew it should not bother her so, but it seemed her friend had no time for her any more. She and Magpye had been best friends for most of their short lives, spending most of their available time together and now at the extremely young age of a mere twenty seven, Magpye had a daughter. Sable, the ancient, semi-mad Windwalker had proven to be a surprisingly better father than had been thought, although he was prone to sudden lapses of solitude-lust that made him disappear for days on end and made Magpye overly anxious. It seemed no one had time for the young mystic any more – even her animal friends, Fluffy the vulture and Ghostdancer the wolf were occupied in their own lives. Fluffy was old, and it pained him to fly and the wolf had disappeared off with Jester, her mate, to den down somewhere away from the roost and raise pups. So here she was sitting down by the water and scaring the fish. So this was solitude lust, she mused to herself. Although a common problem of the Windwalkers – the desire to be alone with nothing but the wind and the sky for company, Sunstar had rarely experienced it before, possibly due to her Glider/Wolfrider genes. As far as elves went, she was a regular genetical hodgepodge. Her father was half Wolfrider, half Glider and her mother had been a pure Windwalker. She had skills in flying that the other elves could only dream of. Yet she was still not happy.

She sat there, engrossed in her angst.

The young cat watched with hungry golden eyes. It had not been long since he had left the territory of his mother and he was starving. Days of living on a diet of ring-tails and small forest pigs had not been kind to him. But now he smelt something new, something that made his mouth water at the thought of sinking his teeth into its flesh. He studied it. It appeared relatively harmless, an easy morsel, and he began his stalk, body low to the ground, long striped tail barely swishing in excitement.

Sitting alone by the river bank was something Sunstar had done many times since the birth of Lorrelei. She sought meaning in the world, trying to meditate as she watched the ripples on the water. Beside her lay her feathered throwing spear, a light weapon, used for small game. Such was her sorrow for herself, her loneliness, that she did not notice the jaguar stalking her until it pounced.

There was a flash of brown and gold, as the large cat sprang from the bushes directly at her. She barely had time to see it before it had bowled the delicate elf to the ground. Its claws tore viciously at her as she attempted to struggle free from its grasp. The pain! Burning pain as it tore through her clothing. She pushed at it, her hands pummelling its face, seeking the eyes. The hot blood trickled down her chest. Her throat tried to form a scream, but it would not come. Even her struggles could not save her from the mighty cat, and she knew she was doomed. Killed by solitude-lust, that which had killed many an elf before her. Suddenly something strange happened -

The jaguar threw back its head, letting out a blood-curdling snarl of pain as a projectile weapon embedded itself in its neck. It sprung off the fallen elf, spinning to meet its attacker. But there was noone there. Suddenly another pain joined the first, as a dazed but still capable, elf maiden plunged her throwing spear into its neck. Her aim was not perfect, and the weapon was light, it did little more than bury itself in the creature's shoulder, but as another arrow shot seemingly from nowhere to join the first, it decided it had had enough of this prey. The great cat bounded, bleeding, into the undergrowth.

Sunstar was dimly aware that the creature had gone, and that she was bleeding quite badly. Clarity warred briefly, and inefficiently, with pain, and the last thing she remembered before falling into a faint, was the sight of a dark-winged elf gliding down from a tree at the edge of the glade. Everything was a haze, a haze of blood and pain, but she thought he had a bow strung over his shoulder.

*

**Are you all right?** Came the worried Sending. Sunstar blearily opened her violet eyes. She was still in pain, the dull ache of memory.

She nodded, seeing that her visitor was Dreamwolf, the healer. **Feel much better.**

The brown-haired elf patted her gently on the shoulder. **You should be fine soon, my dear, just thank yourself lucky that he was there to help you. We've lost too many to angst.**

Suddenly everything flooded back to her, and Sunstar drew herself into a sitting position, gritting her teeth in pain at the effort. Whatever the healer had done, it had not been enough to completely heal her wounds. **Who?** She asked, wishing she did not have too.

**Your wounds are deep,** the healer continued, as though she had somehow heard Sunstar's earlier thought. **I can but help in the healing process, the pain will lesten soon.**

The healer could knit bones but could not relieve the pain from some scratches? Sunstar was confused, but it was not up to her to question Dreamwolf's skills. Surely her foster mother had done the best she could. And she had not answered her question either. **Who was he?**

Dreamwolf paused, as if she was unwilling to answer. **Just one of the hunters.**

Why was the healer being so obscure? Dreamwolf and Sunstar had been friends for decades, and all of the flock knew one another, so why would she not give a clearer answer? **Does he have a name?** Sunstar asked, not willing to give up on this one easily - the least she could do was thank the elf!

**Yes,** was Dreamwolf's brisk reply, and that finally silenced the young elf. Surely there was some reason for secrecy, but she could not even guess at what.

*

Dreamwolf had spoken true - the wounds were deep, deeper than Sunstar would have thought. The worst of the wounds, a livid pink-red cut, ran from just below her armpit almost to her waist. And she had a nasty cut running down the side of her neck to her breast. There had been a lot of blood, the healer informed her, and the wound had torn through muscle. She would be very lucky if she managed to escape without some damage to her wing muscles. As it was, it hurt to move her left arm too much, and trying to rise it high enough to glide caused her to wince in agony. She was, as Dreamwolf had said, very lucky that Windkin, who was half-Glider, was her father, otherwise she might never glide again. 

There was a motion of the skin that hung over the entrance to the nest. This was, technically, Jester's den, for it was on the ground where the red wolf could enter with ease. Jester was not here at the moment however, so Sunstar had the small den to herself and Fluffy. The poor old vulture did not do much anymore. The feathers about his head were developing a distinctly grey tint and he held his wings as it hurt him to fold them away properly. He rose his head and emitted a low Qwuacking sound as Magpye entered the den, the bundle of eight-moon old Lorrelei in her arms.

**Greetings,** she Sent, formally, as she sat down beside Sunstar.

Sunstar smiled weakly. **Hello Maggie,** she replied, **how is the little one? Still her noisy little self?**

Magpye had to grin at that one. **Indeed,** she chuckled, **driving her poor father nuts - and me too a little. I miss those days when we used to go out and hunt.**

**We still could,** Sunstar replied. **I'm sure the other elves would be perfectly happy with looking after the little screech-bird for a while. She is, after all, a High One.**

**It wouldn't be the same,** Magpye's smile was a sorrowful one. **I'm a mother now, Sunstar, and I've lost my innocence. Maybe when Lorrie is older...** She let the Sending trail off.

Sunstar nodded. She understood. The responsibilty of raising a reborn High One was fairly extreme, no wonder Magpye had turned responsible. Their carefree days were over. Magpye handed her the child. Lorrelei was going to be a beautiful young elf, she was already a beautiful baby. As yet too young to Send, the child was going through that odd stage when they made noises. She cooed and chuckled as Sunstar tickled her with her good hand. By about the age of two, the chick would become as silent as most of the elves here were. They had no verbal language anymore, although Windkin and Sable could both speak aloud. For many years Sable had experienced difficulty sending, but through healing and much encouragement he was beginning to learn again. The chick was a chubby little girl, with eyes of a bright green that seemed to bore into your mind. Her hair and feathers were as black as the wings of a raven, aside from a single band of silver that ran from her crown the entire length of her hair. She was growing fast, faster than Sunstar remembered Windwalker chicks growing, as though after finally being reborn she was eager to reach maturity, or at the least mobility, as soon as possible. It was interesting her talent had not manifested yet, Sunstar surmised, although she had not discovered her own talent as a mystic until several turns ago.

**A beautiful girl,** Sunstar Sent to the doting mother. **She will surely break many hearts when she grows up.**

Magpye had to chuckle at that one. Like all elves, Windwalkers did not put as much emphasis on relationships as humans did, and thus when love occurred it was pure, and more likely to survive. Still, the smile of an attractive elf could still tear at a male's heart. **Talking of breaking hearts, have you found out who rescued you yet?** The silver-haired elf inquired.

Sunstar shook her head. **Only Dreamwolf knows, and she refuses to tell me. I don't understand why. I don't suppose it really matters, but I would like to know - if only so I can learn to shoot arrows like he does!**

To an elf, gratitude was not really important where life saving was concerned. You did not need to thank someone from saving you from death, for with the elf flock being as tight knit as it was, everyone looked out for everyone else. To most elves, it was as unnecessary to thank someone for saving their life as it was to thank someone for a smile - rescuing them was not a favour, it was just something you did. It was more the mystery of it all that nagged at Sunstar, as she desperately wanted to know who her secret saviour was.

**You don't think it was Cormorant do you?** Magpye queried, referring to her older brother.

**Of course not,** the wounded elf had to chuckle. **He could not shoot a jaguar twice in the throat with an arrow!**

That was true of course, a bow and arrow were not common Windwalker weapons, with their wing-arms it was awkward to fire a bow with skill and most prefered the one handed throwing spears and javelins. Of course, there were a great many tales about Windwalkers that hunted with daggers fastened to their feet, or wearing vests carved from wood so as to have spiny points. The most common hunting technique of the Windwalkers however was to drop on their prey heavily from above, which normally pinned it to the ground if nothing else, and slashing its throat with a knife, or chasing the prey into their animal friends, generally giant eagles, who could finish it off with a slice of their talons.

**Who then?** She asked, and rattled off a list of names of the young hunters. **Brightblade, Nightfire,** she paused, **Twilight, Hover, Buzzard,** she stopped again. It was hard to think of all the hunters, for although she knew them all by name, many of them spent a great deal of time away from the flock and neither her nor Sunstar had paid a great deal of attention to them, as they were not yet of the age to notice - or so both of them had thought, until Magpye had Recognised Sable. **Perhaps Lightspeed or Slash,** she completed. Removing her child from her friend's arms, she added, **was it one of them? That's all the young ones, although it could have been one of the elders.**

**I don't remember,** was Sunstar's reply. **All I remember is dark wings, I was a tad distracted at the time.**

**That takes out Brightblade and Lightspeed,** Magpye replied. **Ever heard of one of the others being an expert bowelf?**

Before Sunstar had time to answer, Lorrelei began to cry. Magype sighed.

**I better get her off to bed, you think hard about it my dear, he's got to be one of those. I don't know why its that important to you though. He obviously wants his privacy for a reason.**

Sunstar pondered it. Although described as "young" none of them were anywhere near as young as her or Magpye, except maybe Twilight and Hover. She had never paid much attention to the both of them, Hover was going through that obnoxious age of scorning those younger than he and Twilight she suspected was mildly crazy. He was slightly younger than Hover, probably around a century old and had the tendency to be quite loud and somewhat foolish. It could hardly be those two, she doubted either of them could shoot an arrow straight if they tried. Which left Nightfire, Slash and Buzzard. She sighed. She knew so little about them all. How had she been so wrapped up in proving herself as a hunter that she had forgotten who she could learn from? Skylark, a surprisingly muscular female friend of Hover's had taught her how to use the throwing spear, with the help of Chieftess Goldflash. The males had just been, there, occasionally watching her and laughing at her mistakes, talking amongst themselves, that sort of behaviour. Certainly any of them would have saved her, but how many would remain secretive about it. Now she thought about it, he had not even come to see if she was doing all right, and that was a little unusual. Probably it was someone like Hover and he was embarrassed about helping someone so young and inferior she reflected. So why then did it bother her so?

As Magpye hugged her a crooked goodbye and left, Sunstar had never felt so alone. Although definately no less a hunter or no less an elf than anyone in the flock, she felt a little like an outsider. Certainly, her skin was a lot darker than her kin, especially of Sable's and he was bloodkin, but that should make little difference. Her musing was disturbed by a Sending from Magpye.

**Somebody has dropped something by the door,** she Sent, entering the den once more. Under one arm she held her dark-haired child and in the other, a bunch of bright red flowers. Sunstar stood up and took them from her hand.

**Who do you think it was?** She asked, knowing there was more to this than just someone who had got tired of carrying some wildflowers they had picked, for one thing the flower was not a common one and some care had been taken in binding them together securely.

Magpye could but shrug.

*

It had been two days since the jaguar attack and Sunstar was bored with sitting around in the den or the small area in front of it. She was sure she could glide if she really wanted too, although her arm still ached and her legs too had been torn by the creature's talons, although not as badly as her torso. She decided to go on a little stroll. It was weird to wander outside on foot, but there was only Skysong in the meeting ground, with his lifemate Stormwind keeping him company and fussing all over him like a mother hen. The golden-haired elf stopped to smile at her mentor.

**How are you feeling dear?** Stormwind Sent to her, a mild tinge of concern to it.

**Much better, thank you,** she replied. **How is Sky recovering?**

The dark-haired elf smiled cheerfully. **He is much better, although somewhat engrossed in his meditations at present.**

**I have a question for you,** she stated, thinking that now was as good a time to find out who her mystery saviour was as any. 

Stormwind nodded. **Yes, ask away, you know you are like the daughter Skysong and I never had.** They had never had fledglings because Skysong had already been old when Stormwind was born, and when the Windwalkers overtook the age of a thousand turns, children were no longer born out of Recognition. And Recognition almost never occurred amongst the Windwalkers, Sable and Magpye being the only recent case.

Sunstar paused, unsure of what Stormwind's reaction would be. **Do you know whom the elf was that saved me from the jaguar?**

**I am afeared not. I was attending to my lifemate at the time. Has Dreamwolf not told you?**

**She's being unusually secretive,** she replied. At that moment, young Dapple, a boy elf of little more than eleven turns barrelled into their patch of the clearing. He was a small, delicate child with shoulder length blond turning to brown hair and his brown wings were dappled with white, hence his name. He grinned impishly at them.

**Ya gotta hide me,** he Sent.

He was too slow though, for at that moment, golden-haired and green-winged Wren followed him into the glade and ran straight into him.

Dapple made the effort to run away, but was tagged by her with both hands.

**Hey, no fair,** he Sent loudly.

**Much fair,** Wren chuckled. The two were not bothering to lock send in the slightest. Stormwind laughed at them.

**Get away from here you little runts,** she Sent good naturedly. **Go and bug your brother or parents or some such thing.**

Skysong looked up, disturbed by the chicks and appeared to notice Sunstar for the first time. **Greetings,** he Sent to her, and then glanced at the two children. Dapple had wrestled Wren to the ground and was pulling her hair.

**Stop it already,** the dark-haired female elf grabbed Dapple by the back of his jerkin. **No mischief near Skysong - you have disturbed his concentration.**

**Sorry,** Dapple muttered, as Stormwind manouvered him away from the younger girl elf.

**Why do you not go and play somewhere else? Ask you father to teach you the bow or something.**

Sunstar startled. She had not though of it before, but Dapple's father, Swiftbow was the prime archer of the flock. He was swiftly approaching his first millenium, and had black wings, but maybe he was her saviour? At the very least, he would probably know. **Where is your father?** She asked Dapple.

Dapple grinned, **follow me, but he be very busy so he is not able to teach me nothing.**

**Teach you anything,** Stormwind could not resist correcting.

**Whatever,** he muttered, and darted away. **Come on Wren, let's take Sunnystar down to the river.**

Sunstar smiled to herself. Sunnystar now, oh well, it could be a lot worse. She just hoped Swiftbow was, in fact, by the river.

*

Nightstar was busily attempting to thread the bow succesfully. She could not get the hang of it, the sinew cord kept falling away at the inoportune moments. She risked a glance at the dark haired bowelf. He was watching her with that patient gaze that made her feel all the worse for taking up his time. She could barely string her own bow - what sort of hunter would she make? The patience for this she just did not have. It had probably been a foolish idea anyway, to learn the bow in an attempt to catch the object of her admiration's eye. He was not even here, probably off hunting suntails or some such thing. That was probably a fortunate thing, for she certainly could not have impressed him with her pitiful skill. Biting her lip in concentration, she once again attempted to get the sinew loop over the end of the bow.

And was disturbed by two chicks suddenly gliding down from the surrounding trees, one of which was sending enthusiastically; **papa can you teach me the bow too? I must be better than her!**

Her concentration was lost, she tried to move the loop and the bow twisted in her hands, sending the string tumbling from her grasp. **Puckernuts,** she cursed.

**I fear you are just not cut out for the bow,** Swiftbow lock-Sent to her. His son plopped himself down beside him.

**We brought someone to talk to you, papa.** He Sent. His father patted him on the shoulder.

At that point Sunstar glided into the glade. Nightstar knew her only vaguely - the older elf paid little attention to the children, and she still regarded anyone below fifty turns as a child. Of course, every elf in the flock knew Sunstar, she had created quite a stir when she had arrived here over twenty turns ago, a mere chick. The somewhat darker than usual skin, the fact she was descended from Ravendark, the exiled twin brother of Chief Starlight contributed to it. Not quite as much a stir as the pale skinned, black haired insane elf Sable had created, for he was the son of Ravendark and thus over ten thousand years old. Indeed, there had been many a strange elf appearing in recent turns. Nightstar turned her attention back to threading the bow as Sunstar sat down opposite the hunter.

**Greetings Swiftbow,** the young golden-haired elf sent. **How goes the work?**

He shrugged and lock-Sent to her, **it would go fine, except that Nightstar here is about the most ineffective bowelf I ever have seen. She wants my son to teach her how to use it, but I fear she has other thoughts on her mind.** He grinned mischeviously, the edges of his blue eyes crinkling. **So how can I help you? Wanting to learn the bow?**

**Well,** she replied, **maybe, but that is not why I am here. I seek the identity of the one who saved me from the jaguar.**

Swiftbow chuckled. **You mean he has not told you? That is just his way.**

**Who?** Sunstar was now almost desperate to learn.

**Oh, I could not tell you that, it would be rude,** she could see from the look in his eyes that he was not quite teasing, but not quite serious either. **Now, why do you not give the bow a go? I'm sure my son would be willing to show you what to do.** He noticed her glance at Dapple, who was playing with one of the arrows. Wren had wandered off. **No, not him; put that down Dapple; you do not think I get them started that young do you? Dapple has his own chick-sized bow, but he is not very good at it as yet.** He winked mischeviously. **Although he can string it though.**

Sunstar tried to hold back her annoyance when he tried to send her away to train with his son. Then a thought occurred to her, maybe in his own mischevious way, Swiftbow was helping her discover the identity of her secretive rescuer. **Where might I find your son?** She asked, pausing as she tried to remember which one he was and gave up.

**Twilight is out hunting suntails on the eastern bank. He is collecting feathers for Cormorant to use in his creation of fish lures.**

The young elf smiled at the mention of Magpye's brother. Cormorant was the best fisherelf of the flock because he had found a most successful way to attract the fish to his bone hooks. He simply made the hooks resemble the insects the fish ate. It was a complicated process, and some of the lures never survived, but the few Sunstar had seen had been realistic enough to confuse her, momentarily. **Are you sure he will not mind me disturbing him?** She asked.

**Yes,** he replied, **but only if you can find him!**

He turned back to Nightstar and took the bow from her hands, threading it for her. She could not appear to get the knack of holding the bow sturdily with her legs whilst pulling down the upper side to meet the loop in the sinew. Sunstar noticed the older elf gave her a black look before turning back to her work. What was that for? Probably she was angry Sunstar had disturbed her lesson.

Well, they were on the western bank of the river, therefore Twilight must be on the other side. She had come to the conclusion now that Twilight had been her rescuer. It made sense in a way, he was always off hunting by himself and thus was more likely to stumble upon her by herself at the right moment to save her. She did not doubt that she would be dead if not for him. Her arm was aching dully, she doubted she could even fire a bow, but if Twilight could, it had to be him, did it not? She bid **farewell** to Swiftbow and young Dapple, and glided across the river. At least she did not actually have to use her wings for that!

*

The eastern bank of the river was less hunted by the elves. It consisted of some very old trees, and the animals that inhabited them. The ground cover was relatively thick, which meant that it was hard to see the prey, even though there was plenty of small prey, as most animals preferred good cover. The western bank was more open, providing a good environment for the delicate toothed deer and tapirs. For birds however, you could do little better than the Old Forest.

Sunstar glided from tree to tree, her legs paining her a little from the amount of landings she had to do. The foliage was too thick to glide properly, and she flapped from tree to tree like a true-blooded Windwalker. Or rather, leapt from tree to tree, preferring to move her arms as little as was possible. Somewhere a short distance away she heard the sound of a suntail screeching as it flew away from something that had scared it. She aimed for that spot.

It took her a while to find Twilight, he was sitting on a wide tree branch, supporting the bow against the trunk. Two Suntails and a small cackler were strung over one shoulder and he was eating a handful of berryfruits. He glanced up at her as she soared down to land beside him, and smiled faintly.

It was easy to see why he was named Twilight. His hair was growing blond-red at the roots, turning gradually darker to black at the tips - just like the transition between night and day. His eyes were the deep blue of the late dusk sky and his wings were dark, dappled like his brother's.

**What brings you to the Old Forest?** He asked her. She could detect a faint edge of nervousness to his Sending. 

**Your father sent me here to learn the bow from you.** It seemed the most appropriate excuse. 

He laughed. **With that arm injury, you could barely hold it.**

**When it healed, I mean,** she scolded him. **It's healing fine by the way.**

**That's good,** he replied, smiling ever so slightly.

**I am surprised you even care.** It sounded more malicious than she had intended. **It is not like you came to check on me, ever.**

A flicker of hurt crossed his features. **Of course I care,** he Sent with an edge of indignation and concern. **I saved you from the spotted cat, did I not?**

Sunstar grinned to herself - she had a confession, so it had been Twilight. **I was most impressed by the way you shot it,** she Sent. **I would like to be able to shoot arrows as you do.**

He grinned, at her, his dark blue eyes shining. **When you are fully healed, come find me and I shall show you.**

**Certainly,** Sunstar replied. She had to confess to herself, the idea of seeing the young (ish) elf again was an attractive one. He was good looking in his own way, with his piebald hair and friendly grin. She felt bad for accussing him earlier on. **So why did you not tell me?** She asked.

**Because...** Was the only reply she could recieve.

**Because is not a reason,** she chided him.

**Well, it is the only one you are getting for now!**

There was a long, uncomfortable pause. Twilight kept himself occupied by stringing his bow over his shoulder.

**Anyway,** he finally Sent. **I have to get these feathers back to Cormorant. Maybe I shall see you later?**

**Maybe...** she replied, knowing full well that they would meet again - with a flock this size it was impossible not to. He had already glided from his perch, the birds on their string trailing behind him like a banner.

*

The summer turned to autumn, the leaves turning a burnished red or golden yellow and drifting to the ground. To celebrate the turn of the seasons, the elves prepared a feast. The hunters went forth to hunt the deer of the western river bank, leaving Sunstar behind, no matter how hard she begged to be allowed to go, no matter what she did to prove her hunting skills, the Hunt Leader, Brightblade, had considered her too young. Everyone had gathered to watch as Brightblade, Twilight, Skylark, Slash, Swiftbow, Buzzard and Brightmist departed on their way.

Sunstar sat in the glade, surrounded by the other non-hunters, plucking birds and skinning rabbits in preparation for the feast. Some of the others were preparing dishes from fruit, fish and nuts. Cormorant sat crosslegged, biting his lip in concentration as he created a fish lure from a bone hook and a pile of feathers, held in place with fine sinew. Lorrelei sat playing with a doll that Silvermane, who grandmother, had sewn from rabbit hides into the rough shape of a wolf. The wolves themselves had returned in recent days, bringing with them three pups, all with the uncanny intelligence of their sire. Ghostdancer lay beside Sunstar. The grey-white wolf looked almost relieved to be able to leave her offspring to someone else. Dapple and Wren were entertaining them, whilst Jester supervised.

The hunters returned late afternoon on foot, carrying with several red deer. They dragged themselves wearily into the glade, greeting their families and depositing their deer for the others to clean and prepare. Out of the corner of her eye, Sunstar noticed Nightstar stand up and approach Twilight, who looked like he could barely keep his eyes open. As she threw her wing-arms around him in a welcoming embrace, Sunstar returned to her task. There were tears fighting to surface. Over the past few moons she had been learning the bow from the elder elf and had thus developed a considerable interest in him. There was another side to him, different from the smart mouthed elf she had seen with Hover, the side of him that was both gentle and a craftelf. He had built his own bow from scratch and fletched the arrows himself. 

She knew not how he felt about her - she had tried to read him as she had some of the other elves, her talent as a mystic manifested in being able to feel anything extreme or well rooted in an individual's psyche - hence she had determined Sable's madness, but Twilight's seemed to be hidden by a fog. The harder she tried, the harder it was to find. Nightstar, an elder dark-haired beauty, basically fawned to Twilight, her emotions were easy to read without her talent. And now it seemed her feelings were being reciprocated. It mattered little anyway, Twilight probably viewed her as a mere chick, or at the least a fledgling, as most of the hunters had the tendency to. Forcing back the feelings, the uncharacteristic jealousy, she turned her attemtion back to what she was preparing.

Unlike their Wolfrider ancestors, the Windwalkers did not fear fire in the slightest, and although they occassionally ate their meat raw, they also cooked some fairly tasty dishes. Food was smoked and dried for the winter months, although here in the rainforest it rarely got cold enough for food to get scarce. The cooking fires were started, and various stews concocted. Sunstar always enjoyed feasts, except in this case, when she was distracted by Twilight and Nightstar who seemed to be spending the entire evening together, laughing out loud as they sampled various preparations and Sent High-Ones-know-what to each other.

Cormorant stalked over to talk to her. He was of relatively sinewy build, muscular from swimming - he was probably one of the best swimmers in the flock, his long silver hair matched that of his younger sister's, and his mother's. His pale blue eyes, strangely intense, focused on her. 

**Have you tried the fish?** He asked, proffering her a wooden bowl filled with white pieces of meat floating in some sort of brownish-red sauce.

She shook her head.

**Oh, what's wrong?** He affectionately patted her on the shoulder.

She glanced at Twilight and Nightstar, the latter of which was watching, as if transfixed, whilst the former sampled some fungi dish.

Cormorant chuckled. **Do I detect a tinge of jealousy? Why do you not just Send to him yourself? I'm sure you would proof to be a more interesting conversationist than that parrot.**

By parrot he meant someone who made a lot of noise whilst achieving little in the way of sustanence.

Jester suddenly bounded over to them and tried to pull himself into Cormorant's lap, grinning like a madwolf.

**What is he up to?** Cormorant asked, knowing that Sunstar could glean information from intelligent beings with ease.

**Nothing,** she replied smugly. She knew full well what the golden-red wolf was up to. His elf friend, Dreamwolf, was shy and relatively plain, and it was part of a complicated ploy between Magpye and her (with some help from Sable, but Sunstar had as little to do with him as possible) to get the two together. How Jester fitted in, was unclear, but if Cormorant took a liking to the wolf, surely he would take a liking to the healer to.

Jester sent her a colourful, cheerful greeting. **Meat?** He asked, with typical wolf tact. Sunstar proffered him a piece of suntail, which he took delicately from her hand.

The conversation continued, as the moons began their dance across the sky.

Around midnight, Nightingale and Dawnsky, two of the older female elves, began a tune, Nightingale playing on the wooden flute she had created and Dawnsky on a complicated bow - a bow with many strings that played at different pitches. She was the lifemate of Swiftbow, and Twilight's mother, which probably explained where the instrument had come from. It was a lively tune, a dancing tune, and the elves quickly took up the rhythm. Flinte, the flock's tool maker, began by tapping a large rock with a small stone of hers in time with the music, Blackthorne, the plant shaper, drew out a little whistle he had created from a piece of deadwood and took up the tune. Somebody else began singing and a few moments later, everyone was either wrapped up in dancing or making music along with the rhythm. It had a very tribal, gutteral sound, an effect aided by Goldflash and her father Stormcloud who had rough drums - skin stretched taut over a wooden frame.

Jester leapt to his feet and bounded around the dancers, pouncing and twisting with ease, despite his somewhat advanced age. Jester had elfblood, thus would live longer than normal wolves, but still a mere heartbeat compared to the extended life of the elf. He encouraged Cormorant to dance with him, or rather, along behind him, by continually running back towards the fisherelf and whining at him whilst tugging at his leggings. Reluctantly, Cormorant gave in, and danced after the wolf. Sunstar noticed the two of them were travelling in the general direction of Dreamwolf.

The three pups darted amongst the dancers, making high pitched whining calls and small howls to one another as they ran around the dancing elves and generally got underfoot. Ghostdancer was more reserved, she stayed close by her elf-friend, Sunstar, whilst keeping a lupine eye on her youngsters. Sunstar noticed that Magpye and Sable had left Lorrelei in the arms of Silvermane and were dancing and whirling around each other in a passionate hurricane. She envied them, wishing she had the freedom to whirl around with the elf of her choice - preferably a soulmate. Recognition rarely occurred amongst Windwalkers, but Sunstar was not a full blooded Windwalker and it was widely rumoured and suggested that she would Recognise one day. The Recognition between Sable and Magpye had come as quite a shock, since both were full-bloods. 

As she began a solo dance with her wolf, she noticed that Twilight and Nightstar, dancing around each other, hand in hand, were manouevering towards her and she decided that she had somewhere better to be. Ignoring Twilight's Sending of greeting, for reasons she could not fathom herself, she glided away into the trees, Ghostdancer followed her a short distance then, whimpering, returned to watch her pups.

She needed to be alone, but she understood not why, alone with naught for company but the gentle whistling of wind in the trees and the feeling of air on her feathers. She returned to the riverbank, the place where she and Twilight practised with the bows. A padded skin, peppered with holes, was tied to a tree, she threw a few stones at it for good measure, wishing that she had brought her bow and arrows with her. But she was dressed for a feast, in her sable-black outfit trimmed with squirrel tails. A small parrot chattered angrily at her and flew away. She did not like Solitude-lust one bit, and it amazed her how Sable took delight in becoming lost in it frequently. She mused to herself, trying to determine exactly why Twilight's attentions to Nightstar bothered her so much. Windwalkers were not generally prone to jealousy and did not tend to bother all that much about who they got involved with. You "played" with whomever you liked, until you found a lifemate and settled down to a semi-monogamous relationship. This sort of relationship jealousy was as uncommon as the feeling that if you saved someone's life they owed you something. Sunstar could certainly not understand why she felt as she did.

*

**You missed a terrific dance last night,** Magpye informed her late the next day. **Skysong got out the fermented berry juice and we danced until dawn.**

Sunstar knew that the term "danced" implied more than just run-of-the-mill dancing. It induitably resulted in a lot of bed sharing too. **And Lorrelei?**

**Lorrelei and the other children fell asleep,** she chuckled.

She dared not ask about Twilight, she knew what he would have done and did not need confirmation of it. **How is Sable now anyway?** She asked. **It has been a while since I talked to him.**

Magpye shrugged. **He seems good, he is not quite up to conversation yet but he has achieved short sendings. He is very good in other respects though, I must say.** She grinned mischeviously and Sunstar snarled at her in mock imitation of the wolves.

**Do you ever fear that you have grown up too fast?** Sunstar asked, not wanting to be overly nosy but curious nevertheless.

**Yes,** Magpye nodded. **I miss the carefree days of our youth, but then I see Sable or hold Lorrelei, and it all seems worth it. You will understand one day.**

The younger elf nodded. Somehow she doubted it.

*

It was a cloudy, dull day when a small group of hunters sent out again. More meat was needed, and as the weather grew colder, the larger prey moved further away. Perhaps if Sunstar had of talked to Twilight she would have been invited on this hunt, for her bow skills were decidedly good, but she had all but ignored him ever since the feast. He seemed distant anyway and Nightstar, ineffective hunter that she was, was included on the hunt. Along with her and Twilight went Buzzard, Nightfire, Brightmist and Slash. They departed on the morn, somewhat excited at the prospect of hunting once more. Sunstar watched them leave, it was traditional, but she ignored the warm smile the piebald haired elf gave her, and refused to return his Sendings.

The farewell was disturbed anywhere, by a very worried Sable gliding to the farewell point and with a complicated array of gestures and one word sendings, managed to get his message across to the flock. Lorrelei, too young to walk, had apparently disappeared. From what else Sunstar could gather, her father had gone to check on her in the morning, to find that someone had taken her and placed a strange black wolf pup in her place.

Something niggled at the back of Sunstar's mind, as she remembered the vision she had received of Lorrelei's demise twenty millenium ago. **I want to see the pup,** she had Sent to Sable.

**Yes,** he reply-Sent, somewhat stiltedly, **Sun see pup, follow Sable.** The Sending was so tinged with concern and fear that Sunstar knew he had not even attempted to hide the emotion. He was frightened that he had lost another child, like his first son, Darkstar, all those centuries ago. But he led her to the nest of he and Magpye. The hunt departed.

The wolf pup was pure black and relatively young in age. It had definately been put there purposelly - it was unsteady on its paws. Sunstar immediately picked it up, noticing that it had distinctly emerald coloured eyes.

**I think your daughter was never missing,** she Sent to Sable, although still somewhat nervous in his presence - she had not forgotten how much he had frightened her nearly three years ago when he had sought vengence on her father for a crime the glider had no vindictive hand in. **I would guess that her talent has manifested.**

She gazed into the wolf's green orbs. There was definately a feeling of familiarity there. **Lorrie,** she Sent to the wolf, **be an elf again.** She added to the sending a picture of Lorrelei as an elf.

A moment later she handed the chubby, dark winged baby back to her father. Sable's relief ws so plain that he had to sit down and held his daughter close. **Thank you,** he Sent, genuinelly sincere.

Sunstar shrugged, trying to Send to Magpye who was out hunting for her daughter. **It seems your daughter's talent has manifested,** she Sent to Sable. **She is going to be a real handful. But that is what happens when you father a High One.**

The pale-skinned elf just grinned and held his daughter close. Sunstar could never doubt the love he must feel for his child, and the protectiveness. The protectiveness he had felt for Darkstar had driven him into a vain act of vengence. **Bye Lorrie,** she Sent to the child. **Don't scare your papa like that again.** Who knew, maybe the child would understand. A shape-shifter then - there had been no other shape-shifters born on this World of Two Moons as far as Sunstar knew, and she knew most of the legends. Just like their ancient mother, Timmain. It was an omen, but she knew not what of. 

*

It had been two hands of days before the hunters returned. The flock were getting decidedly anxious. Food supplies were fine, there was enough small game about that none risked starvation, but they all worried about their friends and family. Swiftbow was especially anxious, for two of his children, Brightmist and Twilight, had gone on the hunt and he sought out Sunstar to see if she could discover a means as to why their return was delayed. She had been unable to, her talent only extended to places or living beings she could see and touch. Skysong was sick again. The spring fever had remained in his system too long, and Sunstar feared for him. It had been ten moons since he had contracted the virus, and still he coughed and wheezed, and grew tired quickly. When Dreamwolf had examined him she had found there was nothing she could do, there was something wrong with his lungs, something beyond her skills - beyond the skills of any healer. He could not gain the required concentration to gain knowledge. So it was left in the hands of fate.

Blackthorne and Skylark were playing a game of dice in a small clearing along the path the hunter's used, when suddenly something disturbed them. Someone came crashing down, in a semi glide, semi fall to land between them in a flurry of feathers. It was a very rumpled Nightstar. Her clothing was torn, her wings and sleek black hair bedraggled and snagged with twigs and her eyes held an expression of fear.

**Thank the High Ones I found you,** she Sent, trying to pull herself into a sitting position and giving up. **I did not think I would ever make it back alive.**

Skylark looked her over, she seemed uninjured, just a mess. **Where are the others?** The huntress asked.

**Dead or lost,** Nightstar replied morbidly, choking back a tear. 

Both the listening elves startled. **Dead?** Blackthorne queried.

**Or lost?** Skylark continued. **Where? How?**

Nightstar shook violently and Skylark wrapped her arms around her, embracing her. 

**You are safe now,** she Sent, **please tell us what happened.**

The black-haired elf choked, and began her tale, combined with choking cries and sudden shakes.

It appeared that the party had followed the prey across to the plains, which was quite a glide by any means, and had set about hunting down some sort of deer-like creature. As they were surrounding the chosen victim, and preparing to attack it, humans appeared on the scene. The last time they had ventured to the plains, there had been no human habitations in sight, thus this came as something of a shock. It appeared the humans had been tracking the same animal as the elves, an adult buck with two thin, upright horns (no forks) and a wounded hind leg. Seeing these creatures attacking their prey, they had set about attacking the elves instead. Buzzard and Slash, both approaching on foot to spear the buck, had been the first brought down, one with a small metal bolt through the chest, the other with a knock to the hit from a human club. Twilight and Nightfire had been brought down with bolts and Brightmist and Nightstar, the only two who recognised the onslaught for what it was, had tried to escape, Brightmist taking a shot to the back. Nightstar had not seen what happened next - she just wanted to get away from the scene and to safety, but when she had returned to the area later she had found nothing except Slash's body and a trail of blood. Slash was very dead, the club had snapped his skull like deadwood and he had not been a pleasant sight to behold, but Nightstar had hardened her will and followed the bloodtrail. 

Some time later she had found the body of Brightmist, who it appeared the blood had come from. She too was dead, the soil around her body stained red. She appeared to have been killed not by the bolt, but by a slash across her throat. She had marks on her wrists as though she had been tied firmly. Here the blood trail had ended, although Nightstar had managed to track them a little further before she had lost the trail entirely. She was not a particularly skilled tracker. Luckily, her talent of direction sense had got her back in the direction of home succesfully. She had not idea of what had happened to Twilight, Nightfire and Buzzard, the thick grass of the plains bore no easily discovered tracks, and the vast quantity of animals had obliterated many of the signs. She hd tried Sending, but received no reply. As she finished her tale she collapsed sobbing onto Skylark's shoulder.

Skylark and Blackthorne exchanged a bleak look. This was not good, not good at all - hideously bad in fact. Five of their best hunters, five of their friends and family, as good as dead. Neither looked forward to reporting this to the flock, but they could not ask Nightstar to do it, not in her current state.

*

The tears rolling down her cheeks, Sunstar hugged the grey wolf close. Realising her anguish, Ghost nuzzled her, licking away the tears and Sending her reassuring thoughts. Unfortunately, there was little a wolf could do to comfort an elf. He could not be dead, could he? Sweet natured, gentle Twilight. And she had ignored him for the last moon or so, caught in petty jealousy towards Nightstar, the only survivor of the tragedy. But surely she would feel it if he were dead? Surely she would feel something. An emptiness perhaps? But her talent did not work that way, and the only elf that could tell her, Skysong, was dying too. Not the quick death of the metal bolt, but the slow, aching death of disease. It was not even as though Skysong were that old - certainly he had been the eldest of the Windwalkers, but he was younger than both her father and Sable and neither of them had those problems. Both still behaved like youngsters without difficulty. WIndwalkers were immortal, there was no way that Skysong was dying of old age. She had tried Sending to him, but he could not answer her queries, his visions had abandoned him.

**What can I do Ghost?** She asked the wolf rhetorically.

To her great surprise, the wolf answered. **Mate missing, track mate, bring him back.** It seemed unusual to get such cohesive sendings from the gry-white wolf, perhaps some of Jester had rubbed off on her.

**But he could be dead!** She Sent to the wolf.

It was too much for the wolf's brain to cope with - missing mates was one thing, death was something even Jester had trouble comprehending. It was beyond Ghostdancer. She whimpered and nudged her elf-friend with her nose.

Sunstar leaned against the comforting hulk of the wolf, and cried until she had exhausted herself in to sleep.

_She was flying across a sea of grass, as far as the eye could see. It was covered in animals - large deer like creatures and something larger, something spotted and so tall that its head almost reached her. Although she was gliding, she seemed not to be moving, as though the land beneath her was moving instead. The landscape zoomed beneath her, more animals, a tree that appeared to be upside down - roots to the air, a great pile of clay over which insects swarmed, a creek surrounded by scrubby bushes and then into small hills and something very strange. She had never seen human houses, but she had heard of them, and this was what they might look like - except this was much larger than any her father had ever described to her._

_Large rock sculptures too squared off to be natural, gaps between them filled with humans and carts. Horses, near-wolves, miniature jaguars, wandering about. The humans looked up at her, pointing. She tried to pull higher, away from their view but she had no control of her flight. Suddenly a tower reared up before her. She was heading directly for collision, but could do nothing to stop it. The brick wall got closer and closer, than suddenly, blackness..._

Ghostdancer yelped as Sunstar woke and knocked the wolf with her head. She had received a vision! She did not understand where it had come from, for that was not the way her talent worked, and each elf had only one magical talent, if that, but she did not doubt that it was accurate. Besides, she had nothing else to go on. It did mean, unfortunately, that she was going to have to converse with Nightstar, something she did not relish.

*

**I do not wish to go back there,** the beautiful dark-haired elf Sent in response to Sunstar's question.

**I ask not that, I just want to know how to get there, to where Brightmist fell.** She could sense the contempt the older elf felt for her, it was almost tangible enough to taste, but she could not understand it, not without physical contact and somehow she doubted Nightstar would allow that.

**They are dead,** Nightstar sent desperately. **The humans got them, do you know what humans do to elves?** Her Sending was somewhat patronising, she was one of those elves that considered under fifty-turns old elves had the minds of small children or intelligent beasts. She paused, as if Sunstar was not aware what she implied. **They kill them. You know what death is like I trust.**

The rage seethed inside Sunstar, how dare this elf treat her like a chick. Yet she was the only guide she had, and with her direction sense the dark elf should be able to give accurate directions. **My mother was killed by a human's arrow,** she Sent, **And I have been in the head of a slaughtered elf. I think you can assume I know what death is all about.**

**So why do you want to go traipsing across the countryside, you want to bring back a corpse?** She glared at Sunstar, her blue eyes almost malicious. **Not much fun when they're dead, are they?**

It was almost to the point where Sunstar was going to break. She tried one desperate ploy, hating herself for doing do. **If you tell me where to go, I shall make sure that every elf knows of the part you played - if I can bring even one back alive.**

Something seemed to click in Nightstar's mind - but not the way Sunstar had hoped. **Yes,** she Sent slyly, her eyes narrowing. **If a chick like you wants to go out to take on a whole flock of humans to save a couple of corpses, then I shall not stand in your way. However...** She paused for dramatical purposes.

**What?** Sunstar replied tiredly, she was almost prepared to agree to any condition provided the damned elf would tell her what she wanted to know.

**However,** and Nightstar grinned in a way that was almost charming. **If you bring my beloved Twilight back alive, I want you to never talk to him again.**

_Beloved?_ The bitch could not be speaking truly, could she? Why would such a hellfire be the beloved of someone such as Twilight. Was it worth agreeing to that for the information she required? The plains were a big place, Magpye had been there once, on a soul journey that had lead her to Quicksnake, the tall snake-eating bird whose form the original Lorrelei had formed to escape the humans back after the landing. But Magpye would never return, not with the reborn Lorrelei in her care. She doubted she could find the human roost just by travelling the plains - even with the landmarks that were fixed in her mind. And even if she could, she doubted any of the elves, provided they still lived, would live that long. And some must live, why would the humans take them with them otherwise? And dump the bodies? The humans must have some plan for them, she surmissed. She was dimly aware that Sable had unpleasant experiences with humans, perhaps he could help her. Choking back her nausea and rage, she nodded. **I agree I shall only talk with him if he agrees to talk with me,** she replied. **And I am sure that when he is returned to your arms, he will lose all desire to associate with me at all.**

Nightstar pursed her lips, as though she had eaten something sour.

**Look,** Sunstar attempted reasoning once more, as futile as it proabably was. **You are not going to save them, the flock believes them dead, and you have only me to rely on. Twilight is lost to you, but if I find him and bring him back, he will not be. If you do not tell me the way I can not hope to save him.**

The elf looked at her intently.

**And if I die or get caught attempting to save them, you are rid of me.**

It seemed the final point that twisted the elf's twisted mind. **Fine then,** Nightstar Sent, **if only to get you pesky little chick of my back.** She described a route and a direction to Sunstar in the most patronising way possible.

Sunstar nodded, committing it to memory. She could feel that Nightstar spoke truthfully, another benefit of her talent, and then she glided out of there as quikly as possible. 

   [1]: http://members.nbci.com/Sharna



	2. Default Chapter Title

_ElfQuest (c) Pinis; Windwalkers (c) me. Lyrics (c) Helloween, from their album "Chameleon" _

For more information on the Windwalkers, visit my homepage (one of many) - [http://members.nbci.com/Sharna"][1] Come here if you are confused!.

# **Autumn Twilight - Longing**

"Here is love and there is pain   
it's all around, it's all the same"   
- Helloween

She glided above the trees, watching the rainforest thin out beneath her. Sunstar was on a quest, a quest to find her lost love, or his body at the very least. It had been half a hand of days since she had bid farewell to her animal friends, convincing her wolf-friend, Ghostdancer, that she was able to do this alone. She had stolen out without informing the flock, but she knew they would follow, of the group of six hunters, two elves were dead, three captive and one had returned alive. They would hardly allow her, an elf maiden of less than thirty turns, to go against humans be herself. But she had a headstart, those following her did not have the tireless flight of her, nor the ability to soar above the trees and they would have to stop to hunt. She was running on little, carrying naught but a change of clothes, a waterflask, some preserved food and, of course, her weapons - bow, arrows and throwing spear. She had stopped little to hunt. 

She woke at dawn, and flew until it was too dark to see. Her dreams were tormented, images, comtinuous images of plains and strange landmarks. Although she knew not who sent them to her, whether it be Twilight, Buzzard or Nightfire, the captive elves, or something completely different, she did notice that every night they were hazier, less detailed, as though the sender was giving up. Or dying.

As she flew, she hardened her resolution, fighting the strain in her arm-wings and the pain in her chest, with thoughts of Twilight. The two of them had been sort of friends ever since he had agreed to teach her the bow. But it had taken disaster for her to realise that she cared for him with a dedication greater than that for any of her friends, except maybe Magpye, who was more like a sister. She just hoped he still lived, that was all she wanted, even if he returned to the furs of Nightstar, the dark haired elf Sunstar suspected was his lovemate. If he could never care for her the way she cared for him, so-be-it. She would just be happy to see him alive and well.

Suddenly the plains began, opening up before her was a broad expanse of grass. It continued as far as she could see, an undulating field. There were a few trees and bushes dotting the flatness, and animals everywhere. She soared lower to observe them better. Striped animals a little like strangely shaped deer, deer-like creatures with straight, upright horns instead of forking branches, great shaggy deer. So much prey, where were the predators? She glanced around her, noticing a dark shape in the distance skimming the tops of the trees. Something large, an eagle? She did a double take. No, not an eagle, a Windwalker. Who had followed her? Who had the skill to follow her? It could only be one elf. The landscape below did not look to forboding, the animals appeared harmless enough, she dropped to the ground, and waited.

The dark-haired elf with the pallid white skin soared out over the plains, she knew he would be looking for her.

**Sable,** she Sent to him, watching with amusement as he pulled back his wings to slow himself in an attempt to locate her. **Down here,** she continued. It was hard to pinpoint Sendings, especially for poor disabled Sable who could barely Send himself.

**Sun?** He Sent puzzled, with the obvious emotional tinge that only juvenile Windwalkers managed. As they grew older, they learnt to hide the emotion, even to lie. But not Sable. Due to a horrific occurance in his childhood, when he had been the captive of a human for five turns, he had been left unable to Send skillfully and somewhat mentally unstable. Ten thousand years later, and he was little better. He was Sunstar's great, great grandmother's brother.

She waited until he appeared to be looking at her, and waved. There were two ravens following him. They cawed at each other and followed him as he soared down to land beside her. Ten thousand years had made him quite an accomplished flier.

**You followed me,** she accused him.

He nodded. **No let niece risk life alone.**

Such a sentence was quite a feat for him. She had to chuckle. Niece indeed! She was somewhat nervous of him at the best of times, he had kept her captive and attempted to kill her father. Certainly he was a lot saner now, but... **What about Magpye and Lorrelei?**

Magpye was his soulmate and Lorrelei was their young daughter. **Magpye say you live many many years, you able to look after self, look after friend.**

Sunstar smiled again. Having surviving ten thousand years, mostly alone, she was sure he was perfectly capable of looking after himself, and perhaps even her. Despite being immortal, most Windwalkers rarely lived beyond five thousand, many never made it to a thousand. **Thank you,** she Sent to him, meaning it. Even though she was a little afraid of Sable, he was blood-kin and she sensed he meant well. And nobody knew as much about humans as he did. **Well, let's go.** She glided effortlessly into he air. Sable, after a running start into the wind, soared up after her. Ravens milled about his head, cawing to each other. Sunstar was a little nervous of the black birds. When she had first met Sable, nearly three turns ago, he had trapped her in a glade with more of the birds than she could count. But company was company, and she knew Sable's mind well enough, for her talent was a sensitivity to emotion and mild telepathy. Most of the Windwalkers had talents, Sable was a raven-friend, he could communicate with the birds and they did his bidding. The ancient elf was mad, but he was not entirely unpredictable, and he seemed to be trying to get along with her.

*

It was the better part of the day before the corpse of Slash, the first of the five hunters to die at the hands of the humans. Even then, the only reason they found him on the trackless plains was the ravens' eyesight and their sense of smell. He was in a sorry state. The corpse had been torn apart and mostly devoured, all the meat and some of the bones were missing. A large, deformed wolf-like creature with spots and a shaggy mane was lurking around the corpse, crunching bones, but Sunstar shot at it and scared it away. Her aim was not perfect, but she had not been shooting to do any more than give it a slight twinge of pain and frighten it. 

Choking back her nausea - death was not unusual to the Windwalkers, but this was the first corpse she had seen in such a state, she touched Slash's ravaged skeleton.

The images that flashed through her head were vague, splashes of fear and a lingering trace of pain were all she could detect. She shrugged, turning to Sable, who was busily keeping the hyaena away by slinging stones at it. The sling was another weapon that was unusual for Windwalkers, but Sable had considerable skill at it. **Only pain and fear,** she Sent to him, and he shrugged, as though he had expected little more.

The blood trail that Nightstar had followed was long gone, but she had inborn direction sense and thus had given Sunstar what she hoped were fairly accurate directions. Keep the sun on you left side, she had said. So Sunstar lifted into the air and they proceeded onwards.

*

It was dusk before they reached the upside-down tree. Sunstar recognised it immediately - she had been dreaming of it for the last few nights. Beneath it lounged some great tawny creatures that resembled jaguars and the fabled longtooth. The female elf shivered slightly at the memory of the jaguar that had attacked her that summer. It had been Twilight that had saved her, although he had hidden the fact until she had stumbled on the truth. She still did not know why he had not told her, but given his apparent involvement with the attractive, but decidedly shallow, Nightstar, perhaps he had not wished to complicate matters by inviting her into the picture. So much for that plan, she thought ruefully to herself. One of the great cats yawned as Sable soared down to land amongst the roots, or perhaps they were branches, of the tree. The ravens wheeled and cawed, scanning the scenery for carrion.

The roots, or branches, whatever they were, opened up in such a way that there was a resonably good sized platform formed. Sunstar removed her pack and sat to one side, eating a piece of dried meat. Sable sat oppostie her, looking at her. He found it easier to Send if he made eye-contact.

**Do you think we shall find them?** She queried.

Sable nodded. **Must find,** he Sent to her. **Others follow, help us.**

**So the rest of the flock are following us?** She asked, somewhat unnecessarily. **How far behind?**

The pallid skinned elf grinned at her. Beneath the tree one of the great cats, a huge beast with a great shaggy black mane framing his head, stood up and stretched. Muscles rippled beneath his sleek golden brown fur. The sun, as she set and was replaced by the silver sphere of the twin moons, mother and daughter, it shimmered on his fur, seeming almost to illuminate him. He flung back his maned head, and let forth an enormous roar. The tree seemed to shake with the force of it and Sunstar was almost startled into falling out of it. Sable grabbed her arm as she fell back. The fall would not hurt her, but the lions quite probably would. The tawny females, four of them in total, all gradually began standing up and stretching in the twilight.

**Not near us,** Sable finally answered her question. **Much slower then us.** He shook his wings. 

Sunstar had to admire him. His wings were induitably stiff and sore, for hers were and her wings were basically redundant in some ways. They helped her soar however, which conserved on the energy expended from wingless gliding such as was practised by her sire, Windkin. He was of Wolfrider/Glider stock. He did have many millenium of practise, of course.

**Who?** She asked.

**Hunters - Lightspeed, Skylark, Hover, Swiftbow, Brightblade. All what can.** 

They were likely to be travelling relatively fast then. She curled up as best she could in the fork of the root-like branches of the upside-down tree. **We must leave early then.** She did not know why, but it was important to her that she stay ahead of the rest. Perhaps there was a part of her that suspected Twilight would only notice her if she were his sole saviour. As she waited for sleep to overtake her, she mused. Why was she going through all this for someone whom did not really appear to care for her? Certainly he had saved her from the jaguar, but she did not owe him for that. No elf owed another if they saved their life. Something like that was beyond using as a bargaining tool. So why was she after him? Because she loved him? Certainly she felt a certain affection for him, and wanted to be with him, but she was young and naive. She did not know what love was, but then again, did anyone? Perhaps she just wanted to prove herself. Prove to her flock, Twilight and Nightstar that she was a child no more. Her thoughts became more and more obscure as she drifted off into oblivion.

*

It was midday that they found what remained of Brightmist. She was in a similar state to Slash. She was easier to find however, for the air above her held a couple of circling vultures. They were bearded vultures, like Fluffy, Sunstar's elderly animal friend. One held a piece of bone in its beck that it dropped on to a spiracle of rock. The bone bounced away, shattering. Both birds dived down to retrieve it. Sunstar alighted beside the corpse. There was nothing left but the bones, everything else had been cleared up effectively by the scavengers. Some of the bones were crushed open, by the heavy jaws of the hunched wolves. Sorrow welled in her at the sight of all that remained of the huntress. Brightmist had been an attractive, friendly elf whom had helped Sunstar mightily with her stalking and hunting techniques. It was horrible to think that she could be reduced to this state by something as horrific and uncaring as a human. She touched the corpse.

_Flickering pain spread through her arms, starting with her wrists that were so tightly enveloped in thick cord that she could barely feel her fingers. Pain from the wound in her back, it seered with a fire more painful than any she had imagined before. She was exhausted, being dragged along by huge, gruff monsters that seemed uncaring of her pain. She stumbled, and one of them turned on her. Yelling at each other. He dragged her here, where she was hidden from the rest by some scrubby bushes. There he committed indencencies on her, ripping off her clothing and forcing her. She struggled, tearing at him with her fingers, closing her teeth on him. Blood, the coppery tast of blood, soared in her throat. Then rage. A hand across her face, skin darkening to a purple-black pain. The feeling of cold metal being pressed across pale throat. Pain, lifeblood flowing. Death.. He left her lying in the dirt, shaking as her life blood drained into the earth._

Sunstar threw back her head and howled her torment to the sky. Then she collapsed into the dirt. The effort of reading the bones and the terrible truth they had shown was too much for her. Sable rushed to her side, and crouched beside her, unsure of what to do.

A strange creature came over to investigate the howl. In some ways it superficially resembled the wolves, but on a much more delicate scale. Its muzzle was black, as were its enormous ears, but its body was a complicated mixture of white, brown and gold, blotched as if applied by a mad artist. The huge ears were radically out of proportion with the dainty feet and relatively light build. It sniffed at Sunstar's foot, alarming Sable enough to fling a stone at it. The stone bounced off its flank, inflicting no damage but hurting the animal. The patchwork wolf yelped and darted away. The creatures here were certainly a strange mixture. There were more of them too, watching him from a distance, seemingly just curious. Whatever their intent, they did not venture any closer to him or Sunstar.

When the golden-brown haired elf finally awoke, she let out a startled noise and grabbed him close to her. He squeezed her. **Is fine?** He Sent to her.

Tears were streaming down her face and she recounted what she had learnt. Sable shuddered. 

**Must save them,** he replied. **Soon.**

The patchwork wolves appeared to grow bored with them and the pack trotted off, making odd high pitched yipping noises to one another. Sunstar wept. If that was what these monsters, these _humans_, were capable of, she feared for the surviving three elves. And she feared for herself and Sable.

**Are all humans like that?** She asked Sable, the closest she had to an authority on humans.

He shook his head. **Many, not all.** He paused. **Many not kill you after.**

She shuddered. It did not occur to her that the haunted elf had viewed the world of humans through a selective peephole. Ever since he had been taken captive as a fledgling, he had looked on humans with something well over the border of disgust.

The red clay monolith rose out of the plain grass, like a worshipper of the sun. The dainty golden-grey creature, with its resemblance to the hunched, spotted wolf sniffed at the foot of the mound, pawing at it. It licked termites from a small cavity in the monolith with an unusually long tongue. As the two elves soared down to roost beside the termite mound, it darted away, perhaps mistaken them for eagles.

**We are getting closer,** Sunstar Sent to Sable.

The elder elf nodded. **How know?**

**The dreams,** she replied. **I have been sent images of this place.**

He seemed satisfied.

*

Brugah marched across the plains, his trusty crossbow close at hand. His shoulders were covered with the hide of a large cat, a lion pelt. He was the hunter and he was on a mission. It had been some time since the hunters had brought in the three bird-spirits and he had wandered out on his own to see if he could find the dark-haired one that had got away. He liked to hurt the little ones, but alas only one of the females had been brought in and he had been forced to kill her. He licked his dark lips in rememberance of that occasion, feeling the tightening in his loins. His desires for the flesh of children, human children, had almost resulted in his death, years before. Only by sheer luck had he made his escape from that village, escape to the isolated city in the foothills around the plains, the city of Stonetower. Here he had found a substitute for the targets of his dark desires, the spirit "pets" kept by the townsfolk. Nobody cared about the slaves - in fact he imagined a lot of them used their "pets" in the same way he did. It was a shame that the golden haired one had hurt him, bitten him on the lip. It was a shame that he had been overcome by rage and killed her. He liked it when they resisted, he liked it when they fought. She had so much more spirit then the dead-eyed pet-slaves in the city. And he had killed her. But one had got away, and he would find her, he would find her and capture her, and she would entertain him until he bored of her.

*

It was time to hunt. Sunstar did not wish to pause for that length of time, for even though game was plentiful, it meant a stop in their journey. She mainly agreed to it because Sable was visibly tiring. His wings were stiff, although he never complained, never even mentioned it, she saw the way he winced every time they lifted off, the twinge of pain that crossed his ageless face was easily visible. A part of her craved Twilight, to see him, to hear him, to touch him again. And another part of her was frightened. The sooner they found the missing hunters, she would have to face the fact that he may be dead, or at the least that he would turn his back on her and rush into Nightstar's arms and bedding. The truth nagged at her, she was just a mere chick after all, what interest did a hunter have in her? Maybe the blood call of the hunt would do her good. Despite the Wolfrider blood, Windwalkers did not experience Wolfsong, what they experienced was different - and the exact opposite. Solitude-lust was a good way to think too hard about what was bothering you, and a good way to find out things you were better off not knowing. It was even harder for Sunstar, her hunches were always accurate, thanks to her talent. Except where Twilight was concerned. She could learn nothing of his emotions, not even how he felt for Nightstar. Perhaps that was why he fascinated her so. Perhaps that was why she was flying across the countryside to attempt his salvation.

At least the game was plentiful, but she did not wish to kill anything especially large. It would take too long to process any of the deer-creatures, unless they left most of it to the scavengers. The answer to her hunt revealed itself in the form of a most bizarre, and very ugly, bird. It was strutting through the long grass with a few of its peers, a fat black and white bird with a scrawny, featherless neck coloured in gaudy and disturbing colours. A piece of skin hung from beneath its bright red beak and swung from side to side as it walked. It was a bit like the wattle-necks of the rainforest, but smaller. She was airborne, and wanting to experience the full adrenaline rush, decided to swoop on it. Here she had the advantage that unlike most Windwalkers, she could grab it. Many of the other Windwalkers hunted prey in this fashion with their knife between their teeth so it was easy to reach.

She hovered above it, then dropped on one of the birds. Her dive was headlong, with her hands stretched out before her. Carefully controlling her fall, so that she was not falling too fast, she crashed into the bird just as it tried to flap heavily into the air. The force was enough to knock it to the ground, where it flapped in a pained and disorientated fashion for a few seconds before she pounced on it and grabbed it, breaking its neck with one easy twist. The other birds had long since fled. There was no blood, the kill was cleaner like this but took a good deal more skill. If her timing had been off she could have either crashed to the ground or the bird would have escaped. She crouched, panting in the grass, for a few moments, as the adrenaline surged through her body, carrying with it her doubts, carrying them away from her. She finally tied a cord about the birds neck, stringing it over her shoulder and fastening it to her belt so she was able to fly comfortably with it. It would be very nice to sink her teeth into warm, bloody flesh again. Windwalkers had not lost the predatory instinct.

*

The shattered bones scattered about the plains as Brugah kicked them. He had reached the place where he had killed the she-spirit. Her bones were so pathetic, the pathetic remains of the little bitch that had sunk her teeth into his lower lip so hard that it had swollen and he had been unable to eat for days without pain. He had been required to kill her. He crouched by her pathetic remains.

"See what happens if ya hurt me, little bird," he gloated. The memories were fresh in his head, fresh and enticing, and the pull in his groin was almost intoxicating.

*

What was most bothersome of the plains was the flies, Sable reflected as he swatted another of the pesky winged things away. It did not please him to allow Sunstar off hunting on her own, but he knew that despite her young age she was a skilled huntress and unlikely to come to any harm. It was the presence of humans that made him nervous. He had been here before, centuries ago, before the human city had been created, but he could smell the humans on the wind. And how he hated those monsters. If there was anyway he could succesfully do it, he would kill every single one of them. His wings were stiff but he did not complain. Sable rarely complained. There was no purpose in complaining about something unless you could change it. He stretched his arms, massaging the aching muscles and trying to loosen the pain. He allowed himself a brief memory of his smiling daughter, held by his beautiful soulmate and grinned to himself. It had taken ten thousand years, but he felt complete now. He had many children, but only two had ever stolen his heart - Darkstar, long dead, his demise aided by the black viper (and bane of the Wolfriders) named Winnowill and little Lorrelei, the reborn High One with shapeshifting skills. The other children were memories, some dead, some probably still alive. It was his feelings of protectiveness towards Sunstar that had shocked him the most though. She was blood, but not direct, yet he felt this urge to protect her from harm almost as if she were his daughter too. There was absolutely nothing sexual about it. Despite his millenium of experience, emotion had never been the loner elf's strong point, aside from hatred and fear. The only soulmate he had ever really loved was Magpye, the rest had all acted suspicious towards him, keeping his chicks from him. And now his world was a maelstorm of emotion - love, joy, delight, it was no wonder that he often had to go off on his own to rest from it all!

Before him, the ravens scrabbled with a hooded crow. The air was filled with the harsh cawing and the flapping of wings. The ravens were his friends, always had been, always would be. And they knew things. Sable had a vague idea of why Sunstar had gone off alone to rescue the captives, provided they were alive to save, and he suspected that her efforts would not be in vain. But he daren't tell her this, in case he was wrong, even if he had the words to say so.

**I bear food!** Sunstar's Sending was delightfilled. Her somewhat thoughful mood appeared to have been broken from the thrill of the kill. Three corpses, bound together by a piece of cord, descended sharply from the sky, narrowly missing Sable.

**Hey!** He exclaimed.

Sunstar landed crookedly, almost falling over with laughter. **Sorry,** she Sent.

He untied one of the birds and flung it to the ravens. The hooded crow made a valiant effort to grab a piece but was hounded away by the starving corvids. As soon as it was gone the two of them proceeded to peck out the eyes and tear apart the tender breast.

The two elves plucked their birds and ate them raw, relishing the sharp taste, so fill of flavour, unlike the meat they had dined on for the past few days. By early afternoon they were ready to continue on their way, so stuffed full of food that flight was lurching and lazy. By dusk however they had reached the waterhole.

*

Dawn at the waterhole was a very noisy affair to say the least. The huge herbivores, from the great shaggy antelope to the delicate gazelles, from nosehorns, great heavy creatures with hard skin and short tempers, to snakenoses. And birds, great hoards of birds. Even a couple of the great tawny cats sauntered down to the waterhole, the herbivores seemingly unconcerned by their presence. Sunstar and Sable were moved on very quickly. Despite the amount of mud, it was impossible to discriminate any marks from the others, perhaps elves and humans had been there, or perhaps they had not. Sable did find a feather caught in a bush that was mostly pale rimmed with dark. It could have been one of Twilight's dappled wing feathers and Sunstar felt her hopes rise. The dreams had got worse though, now they were nothing but a haze of pain and she feared her mysterious informant was not long of this world. They had passed a number of waterholes on their travels, some little more than muddy puddles, and this was the biggest. A stream that filled it wound down from the foothills, thus this was the river they decided to follow. They were now relying entirely on Sunstar's visions for navigation. Luckily she had a good memory of her dreams and could determine the rough direction. Besides, the human settlement required water of some description.

Further upstream the stream branched, or to be completely accurate, two creeks merged to form the one they had been following. By now they were in the foothills however, and if she soared high enough, Sunstar could see the human city in the distance. It looked like a huge growth, expanding over the hills like a blight. There was smoke too. She glided down to join Sable and pointed, **that way.**

*

The city of Greytower was a strange one. It was very isolated, and thus had more that its fair share of villains and criminals lurking behind the walls. The many small creeks from the mountains fed it with water and a sanitation system and the bountiful plains fed it with meat. From the mountains and small woodlands, edible berries were collected. The humans had everything they needed, even extending to fields of wheat and corn. They farmed goats and cattle for milk, and sometimes meat when times were harsh. Central to the city was the tower that gave it its name. The tower was much older than the city, having been built several centuries before by an exiled noble and his family with a hoard of slaves and a small army of followers. The noble had used his army to capture the humans that roamed the plains, men with skin as black as charcoal and teeth as white as ivory. They had built the tower and eventually the population had increased, spreading across the hills a messy array of houses, both peasant hovels and stone cottages. The tower was no longer the home of the nobles but instead a sort of complicated private menagerie owned by the ruler of the city, a brown-skinned man known as Rahyd'ma. He was, let's call it a "collecter", with a menagerie of beasts and other things besides, that astounded the villagers. It was he whom had first introduced the spirits as "pets".

Back before Greytower was built, the plains had been the home to a tribe of elves. Stockier than the High Ones, but taller than the Wolfriders, they had hunted the beasts of the plains with the aid of the patchwork wolves. These beasts were far too small to ride, but had a highly structured social group that helped the Plains-elves tremendously. They were worshipped by the dark-skinned humans they shared the plains with, and the two lived in relative peace, side by side. Until the white men had come. The exiled noble had broken the spirit of the native people, and in doing this had captured or killed most of the Plain-elves. The few survivors had been so divided up that they had died out too, for like the patchwork wolf, the Plains-elves were highly social creatures, unable to survive alone. For reasons known only to himself, the noble had kept the elves alive in his dungeons. The following rulers, perhaps from superstitious fear, had also fed and looked after the captives. Many had died, for they were creatures of the wild and did not take to captivity easily. But a few had survived, even breeding. When Rahyd'ma had assumed rule, he had moved the captive elves, training some as slaves and giving some of these out to his loyal followers. The more willful ones had been kept in their cages, until their spirits too were shattered. He was considered a somewhat eccentric ruler, but a powerful man and someone you did not want to cross unless you wished to wind up with snakes in your bed or poison in your wine. His hunters had been sent out to capture one of every animal species they could find, and others were employed to do nothing more than collect food for the beasts. The larger part of the collection was carnivores, for most of the plant eating creatures, particularly large ones, were killed and stuffed. Many of the villagers believed he kept the meat-eaters alive as a punishment for those who crossed him. They were probably right, certainly many of them had dined on human flesh.

*

Sable could feel the fear racing through his veins as the two elves approached the human city. It was late dusk, the sky had turned deep blue now the sun had vanished behind the mountains. Humans were the enemy, they were also what he feared the most. The tower rose form the landscape as if it were a crude phallic symbol, the grab-bag of hovels littered about it like stones. Sunstar swooped low to investigate. The houses were a bizarre array of different styles. Stone houses with tiled roofs, wooden buildings topped with thatch, some appeared to be made from various oddbits. Others were the circular clay huts of the native plainsmen.

The streets may have been empty of people, but they were not devoid of life. A scrawny silver backed near-wolf searched vainly for lifestock left out accidently, a hunched wolf crushed a metal pot that had been left outside into a pulp with its powerful jaws. Hooded crows and vultures fought over scraps of food that had been thrown outside, presumerably to be cleaned up in this manner. A cloaked human hurried from one house to another, clutching vainly to a lantern. Sunstar almost freaked, this was the first human she had seen since she was three turns old. They were so big! Almost twice as tall as the diminutive Windwalkers. Sable was emanating a weird mixture of fear and loathing.

**They are in there,** Sunstar nodded in the direction of the tower.

Sable nodded. **Yes.** 

The golden-haired elf ventured a Sending to the tower, searching for life beyond the grey walls. **Hello?** She Sent almost timidly.

The returning barrage almost flung her from the sky. So many voices! All Sending to her at once. They were as inexperienced at Sending as Sable it seemed, so filled with emotion that they could not be true Windwalkers. She risked a Sending to Sable.

**There are more elves in there than I can count!** 

**Yes,** Sable had evidently caught some of the messages as well. He paused, as though considering something. **I think, Plains-elves.**

**Plains-elves?** Sunstar was aware there were other elves out there - Wolfriders, Gliders, Sun-villagers, but she had never heard of Plains-elves.

**Meet them, many turns ago,** he replied. **Daughter, Kiara.**

The she-elf was startled. She had known Sable had children before Lorrelei, she knew the story of poor Darkstar, but she had never guessed how many. **What happened to them?**

Sable shrugged, although they were flying she could see the movement in his shoulders. **Go away. I return, no elf, think they dead.**

**How many children have you fathered, Sable?** She asked. **What wonders have you seen?** It was more a musing to herself than a real question.

**Many,** she could sense his grin. **Many elf out there, some swim water, fly sky, ride wolf, deer, goat, big birds.** He stopped. **Only us wings though.**

**The stories you would be able to tell!** She Sent to him. **Would you share some with me?**

**Thought you never ask!** He Sent, sounding delighted. **After all this, be happy too.** And he would too, she could sense it in his Sendings. All those years, and all he had really needed was for elves to not treat him like some sort of insane freak. It must have been quite shocking for him and the tribes he met, since none of them would be familiar with winged elves.

**But how are we supposed to find Twilight and the others in that monstrosity?** She asked him.

**Send one elf only,** he replied, and she cursed herself for not seeing such a simple solution earlier.

It was hard to seek out the mind of an elf she did not know, but her tentative Sendings did not result in any replies from the elves she knew. Finally she caught one of the Plains-elves. Windwalkers had skills with Sending that far proceeded any other elves. They had no spoken language at all.

**Who are you?** The Sending was faint, a female.

**My name is Sunstar, I have come to help you,** she replied. **And who might you be?**

**I am Kiara,** the reply startled Sunstar, but it made sense. If Kiara were Sable's daughter, she and Sunstar had shared blood which would make contact easier. **The humans keep us here.**

**Why?**

**We are their slaves, their play things. Some of them like to mate with us, others make us work for them.**

Sunstar shuddered at the memory of Brightmist's demise. It appeared it was not an uncommon practice. The thought made her sick, mating was one thing, but forcing it was another. **I am of the Windwalker flock,** she Sent. **Some of my friends have been captured and brought in there. Have you seen them?**

**Wait a moment,** was Kiara's reply. Perhaps she was conferring with her fellow captives.

A few minutes later her reply came. **Cemba has,** was her answer. **Strange winged elves, yes?**

There was something bordering on hope in her Sending. **Yes.** Sunstar replied.

**They be the captives of the Collector-man. Have you come to save them?**

**Yes.** 

Sunstar had now alighted on one of the many protuding roof tops of the tower, crouching like a gargoyle. The ravens had soared off at some unspoken command from Sable. He now sat their cross-legged idly fiddling with his slingshot.

Kiara paused, and then very tentatively Sent, **there are some of us here who want to feel the wind again. Could you, perhaps, also rescue us?**

This silenced Sunstar. She knew it would be asked, and wanted to say "yes", but did not want to get their hopes up. It would make things many times as awkward. **How many are you?** She asked tentatively.

**Not quite three hands,** she replied. **And not all will want to escape.**

That startled Sunstar further. **Why not?**

Kiara's reply was quite distressing. **Some of us have been broken, tamed like those ugly near-wolves. In fact, some even _enjoy_ the attention of the human men.** The disgust was so tangible, it sent spiders of fear crawling up Sunstar's back. She could not leave them here if it was at all possible to save them.

**I shall do my very best to help you escape, but please do not get the others too excited about it - we may not manage it and it would be better if the humans did not learn of it.**

Kiara's Sending was filled with agreement and some hope. **That is all you can do.**

**Now, how well do you elves know the tower?**

The ravens returned before dawn, having explored the tower from the inside. Sable and Sunstar had got little sleep, they knew the only way to act was at night and had fought their weariness to examine the tower, and city as much as possible. The tower was solid, but the upper levels had windows, these were narrow, but a Windwalker could probably squeeze through there with little problems. The lower openings were barred, heavily, beyond them they could make out the occasional shape of something alive. 

The ravens perched on Sable, one on each knee, and he held an odd screeching and cawing conversation with them. Windkin had once told Sunstar that her mother, the deceased Skydancer, had been able to communicate with her bearded vulture friends, learning their language through centuries of living alone with no other company. Sable's talent with the birds however was inherrent.

She had told him about her conversation with Kiara, and he had shown exactly as much interest in her as she had expected. He was happy to realise that she still lived, but did not seem overly keen on meeting her. Perhaps his times with the Plains-elves had not been happy ones.

After much squawking and whatnot, Sable Sent her a brief condension on what the birds had said. Very brief.

**Many cage, hold many animals, held shut by metal things, can only be opened by this.** He held up a silvery-grey object, that presumerably one of the ravens had picked up in its beak. Sunstar had never seen a key before, and had no idea what it was.

**I have to go in,** she Sent to Sable, and he nodded.

**Me stay, try not kill humans.** He grinned ferally and she wondered if he was joking or not. Sable's hatred of humans was great, so powerful that surely it would shatter him one day.

**Please do not,** she Sent, half in jest, half out of concern. **This will only work if the humans do not learn of our existence.**

**Know this,** he replied, handing her the key. **May not work every door, get others you find.**

She nodded. This was more a pre-empitive exploration anyway, the actual rescue would need more planning. She needed to know the lay out of the tower first. If she could get Twilight and the other hunters to a window they could simply soar out, but the Plains-elves would have great difficulty in doing that!

She curled up on the narrow rooftop, hoping to get some sleep before dusk. Hoping that none of the humans would see her. They had chosen this spot for a reason, only one opening had any view on it what-so-ever and that one seemed to open into an empty room. From the amount of dust in the room, it was unlikely to be visited. From the street below, they were hidden by the various protusions and gargoyles that decorated the tower. Sable sat beside her, wrapping his arms around his knees and falling asleep in this seemingly uncomfortable position. The ravens perched atop the gargoyles, sleeping and quarreling with pigeons.

*

As dusk fell, the humans retreated into their habitations once more. The day had been, fortunately uneventful, almost restful. Sunstar took a deep breath as she steadied herself to enter the tower.

**Not forget,** Sable lectured her, **no get lost, and get out before dawn.**

She nodded, as if she could forget that. Clinging to the key as if it was her only contact with life, Sunstar glided up to the opening, angling herself so she could get through it without having anything to support her. A normal Windwalker could not have done that, for the opening was too narrow to glide through and there was nothing to perch on, no window ledge or balcony. Once again she thanked her Glider genes, and glided across the small room, careful not to leave footprints in the dust. She tried the door handle, it opened with a groan of protestation and she winced. Carefully only opening it far enough to squeeze through, she entered the hallway of the grey tower. 

   [1]: http://members.nbci.com/Sharna



	3. Default Chapter Title

_ElfQuest (c) Pinis; Windwalkers (c) me. Lyrics (c) Gamma Ray, another great Power Metal band._

For more information on the Windwalkers, visit my homepage (one of many) - [http://members.nbci.com/Sharna"][1] Come here if you are confused!.

This is the last, so far,more may come if the Pini's get their A into G and continue their stories so I can tie this in!

  


# **Autumn Twilight - Salvation's Calling**

"When all your dreams are fading to eternal black

  
You're lost in the twilight."   
- Gamma Ray 

The floor beneath Sunstar's feet was covered in some kind of strange, dirty brown grass. It felt something like the pelt of an animal, soft, although she could feel the cold stone floor beneath it. She was walking now, instead of gliding. It was hard for her to see, in the gloom, although the moonlight was streaming through an opening at the end of the hall. Someone had placed a huge plant in front of it, which filtered the light. She recognised it as a type of rainforest plant, with its huge, flat leaves and dark hued stem. She vaguely recalled the leaves were useful in relieving chest pain, but in large enough doses caused the heart to pound and flutter. The berries were deadly, the juice from them alone resulted in convulsions and death, despite having an almost pleasant flavour. Why should this be here? The main part of the hallway continued around, and she followed it. There were several doors to either side. Sunstar knew little about human habitations, the only reason she had entered instead of Sable was because he despised humans and was likely to attack any he came across in a beserk rage. Or so she suspected, she was unprepared to test this theory. Sable had been kept captive by a human when he was a child, more centuries ago that she could count. He had never quite forgiven the race and loathed them with something bordering on obsession. The elder elf waited outside, keeping an eye on the tower she explored whilst hopefully staying out of trouble.

She listened carefully at the doors, her sharp elven ears and lupine blood giving her distinct advantage. One side was silent, from the other side the sound of heavy breathing and tossing was evident. Both smelt of human, but the whole tower smelt of human. The door with all the noises behind it was slightly ajar, so she risked peering around the door.

It was a large room, cast in shades of grey by the burning coals of a large hearth. It appeared to be some kind of communal nest, large shapes, which she took to be human, were curled up on pallets and asleep. She pulled her head back quickly. As she explored she sent pictures to Sable so he could understand the rough layout of the tower. His animal friends, a couple of ravens, had explored the tower earlier, but a ravens-eye view was very different from an elfs-eye view. She did know, however, that what she sought, the captive elf hunters, was below her somewhere, but she knew not how to get down the level. The door on the opposite side appeared to open into some kind of storeroom. It to had a window, she noted, little more than a slit. It was filled with crates of food, piles of dried grass (did humans eat that? She did not know) and some dead animals. 

She followed the hallway around, finding another door opening into human sleeping quaters and a room whose purpose she could only guess at. A big wooden tub of dirty water, a huge metal device that was slightly warm to touch and smelt of old fires, an array of metal knifes and other devices of unknown purpose. She pocketted a knife, just in case. It was sharper than her flint weapon, shinier. She knew her friend Magpye would like it - Magpye liked shiny things.

Eventually she found the stairway. Such square steps were something she had never seen in natural circumstances. They were dark, very dark. She chose to glide down them instead of walking, keeping her hands above her so as not to hit the ceiling.

There were sconces set in the lower storey's walls, although most of them were burned down to almost nothing. The floor was still covered in the odd grass thing, but appeared to have seen better days. She had not gone far when she came to the first, unopenable door. It blocked the hallway. The air in here was heavy with scents that Sunstar recognised - the scents of the plains and the rainforest. She tried to open the door using the handle, as Sable had told her. It turned but remained persistently shut. She removed the key from her pouch where she had secretted it. Such a simple object, flat, metal with teeth serrating one side. A circular piece with a hole, presumerably so one could hang it about their neck. How could this device get her through that huge hunk of wood?

She stared at the key, and stared at the door. There was no obvious way the two acted together to provide passage. Hopefully she pushed the key against the door, but nothing happened. Sable had given her some advice on how it acted - **Put key in hole,** she seemed to remember. It took her a good few moments to find the hole. She pondered for a moment longer, than pushed the narrow flat part of the key into the hole. Nothing happened. She hit it a bit experimentally. Still nothing. In exasperation more than anything, she twisted it, and there was a clicking noise. Surprised, she quickly pulled the key from the door and made to flee, before realising that what she had heard was not a human with a crossbow. Experimentally, she twisted the handle again. It swung open. Cautiously she walked through, closing the door behind her, and discovering that she could indeed lock it. From the outside of the tower she had seen that there were no openings on this storey big enough for her to squeeze through. The ravens had managed to explore this area using one of the barred openings that was missing a bar. The air in here smelt terrible. A cornucopia of excreta and fear. As her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she realised she should have brought one of the torches along with her. Rooms lined the hallway, but they were not closed as the upper ones had been. Instead they were like open caves, with bars across the front. There was lifestock here, aside from the smell, the noise also alerted her to it. The moonlight shining through the panels illuminated a large cat, one of the tawny beasts from the plains. It was asleep, and appeared to be in poor condition. Its golden fur was mangy and its dark mane had fallen out in chunks. Across the hall from it, two patchwork wolves stared at her, in seeming disinterest. They too stunk of poor health and sickness. The captives continued - hunched wolves with powerful jaws, small, almost deliacte, silver-backed near-wolves, great birds of prey. All of them watched her with haunted eyes or were asleep. Her talent was not particularly sensitive to animal's emotion, but she could feel the despair so strongly she could taste it. They were all here to die.

There were doors in all of the caves, but her key would not open them. More stairs led down to a lower level, which contained more of the same, with a huge hall in the centre. As she opened the door to the hall, she could barely see into its depths, aside from the faint shimmer of moonlight coming through the caves behind her, there was no light. Beady black eyes stared back at her, and she scrabbled away in shock before she realised that none of them were moving. Closer inspection revealed many dead animals. A tiger skin lay across the floor, with the head and jaws gaping at the doorway. A striped horse was caught forever in a rear, a great grey wolf was poised as if stalking for eternity. Everywhere, death. She had to get back from the door and close it before the death-emotion overwhelmed her. When creatures died in extreme circumstances, the imprint of the fear became imprinted on the corpse for years. And all of these creatures had died in extreme circumstances. 

The living creatures in here were more exotic, as if the uniqueness of the animal was inversely proportional to how high it was in the tower. They were also smaller. Instead of being placed in room-sized caves, they were instead locked in barred boxes. There were ringtails, one of her favourite of the prey species, one she never shot if she could avoid it, curled up with their long striped tails coiled around their dainty bodies. Larger brushtails, with their wild eyes and short legs, darted around their tiny cage in pursuit of one another, predators they were, vicious killers for something their size. Creatures she had never seen glared at her, small intelligent looking beasts with huge eyes and strange hands, beasts with disporportinally large ears or eyes, white-stripes, maskeyes, birds of all shapes and sizes.

At the end of the hallway was a huge crate of fowl. The dirty grey birds were all roosted side by side, feathers fluffed out. The stairs continued downwards.

The lower storey was different. The hallway stopped suddenly with a door at either side of it. She could not find any more stairs leading downwards. One door was locked, and her key would not work, but she could feel something behind it. Elves! The other door opened into a small chamber.

As she opened the door, something large and dark loomed up before her. It resembled a wolf, but was not-quite-a-wolf. Its teeth gleamed in the light from the hearth, and soundlessly it lunged at her. Terrified, she shot upwards, away from its slashing teeth. She concentrated all her effort into a Sending. She had never tried this before, but it was something that occasionally worked against lesser creatures, or so she had heard. It was a vicious, wordless black Sending, a concentration of her fear and anger, with a bit of unrequited love thrown in for good measure (because nothing can be so painful as unrequited love). The near-wolf seemed to have hit a wall, it collapsed to the ground suddenly and lay, legs twitching and whimpering. Sunstar was much relieved, for the Sending had all but drained her energies.

Staying close to the ceiling, she surveyed the room. It appeared to be the living quaters for a human. The human who, was at present, sleeping in a bed of furs before the hearth. There was a table, a small bookcase, a few comfortable chairs and more of those stuffed animals. It took her some time to locate the keys. They were resting on the table amongst a pile of papers. Now she had a problem. The human might not notice if one key went missing, the one she already had, but he would surely become suspicious should his entire bundle of them go missing. Yet should she leave them here and risk the chance that they might not be is such an obvious place the next night? He had not stirred yet, she was being very quiet, carefully not touching anything except the floor. She was just thankful the near-wolf had not barked. As she thought of the creature, she glanced at it, noticing that already it was recovering from her mental onslaught. 

Carefully, she seized the bundle of keys and fled from the room. She had an idea. She doubted however that they would be able to save this rescue to dawn. She Sent Sable her plan. He agreed with her. It might indeed work. Before she continued on, she ventured upstairs again and unlocked some of the cages, the same key worked in each. She sighed in relief. It could well be successful.

*

Beyond the locked door was another stairwell, and another cave. In this cave were two captives, elves. She paused in horror at the sight of them.

Twilight was manacled to the wall, his arms well above his head so that his wings were somewhat extended. On the floor before him lay a bundle that was Nightfire, trussed like a chicken. Both wore only their leggings. Twilight's chest was bound in a dirty rag, which was stained dark red under his wing-pit. Nightfire had a bound leg.

It appeared that the piebald haired elf was awake, although his head hung forward.

**Twilight?** Sunstar Sent cautiously to him.

The result was dramatic, his head sprang up (with a wince of pain) and his twilight eyes glanced around the room. She knew not if he had seen her yet. **Sun?**

**Sable and I are here to help you. Can you fly?**

**If I weren't chained.**

**Good.**

She found the correct key for the cell eventually, and then the key for the manacles. Twilight almost collapsed on her as she freed him. **Oh Sunstar,** he Sent in a whisper, flinging his arms around her, squeezing her so tightly that she was afraid she would choke or his wound would reopen. She had to push him away to slash Nightfire's ropes. The other elf quickly awoke. He appeared to be in a worse state than Twilight, barely cohesive and he could not walk very easily.

**We must be very quiet,** Sunstar Sent to them. **I have them Sable,** she Sent to the Windwalker outside.

**Good,** he replied, sounding visibly shaken. **Get out, all of you.**

**What about the other elves?** In her frenzied state, she Sent it to all the Windwalkers present.

**Other elves?** Twilight sounded disturbed.

She pushed the first key she had been given and the cage key into his hand, Sending him directions as best she could. **Get Nightfire out of here,** she Sent to him vigorously as she gave him a brief outline of the plan. **Then get me some sort of distraction.**

**Distraction?**

**You'll think of something,** she Sent hurriedly, **now move. Dawn approaches with every blink of the eye.**

Twilight seemed ready to protest, but Sunstar silenced him with a look and all but pushed him out of the door. She wished she knew which key would open which, it would make things so much easier. But needs must.

*

The stairwell lead to another locked door, which she unlocked with ease, ever waiting to find the human at her back. Or perhaps that horrible near-wolf. She could almost sense the other elves, and knew they must be near. The feeling of claustrophobia was great, the Windwalkers were creatures of the skies, not used to cave-like tunnels. Every key she used, she removed from the collection and placed in her pouch. There was less than two hands of keys, hopefully by the time she had to make her way back up again there would be even less. She found herself in another open room. And here she found the elves. Many of them were asleep, but one in particular was awake and looked at her.

**Sunstar?** The elf sent to her. She was taller than a Windwalker, and of muscular build. Her waist-length black hair had been braided a multitude of times. She looked nothing like her father, aside from the wings. The wings made Sunstar make a double take, for unlike the Windwalkers, Kiara's wings were not part of her arms, but sprouting from her shoulder blades like an extra pair of limbs. The advantages of those!

**I have come to free any of you I can,** she Sent. **Who is with me?**

Kiara shook a young elf awake. He was probably not a great deal older than Sunstar. She hissed something to him in a language the Windwalker could not understand and he darted off, waking up the captives. He too had wings.

**My son,** Kiara sent as way of explaination.

**I can get us winged ones out with ease,** Sunstar sent, **but the others I do not know about.**

The winged child ran to his mother's side. Following him was a skinny male elf. The others were standing about it groups, talking excitedly to each other.

**This is Moja,** Kiara informed her. **He is my Lifemate, he will help the others escape.**

Sunstar handed all the keys to him that were left in the bundle. **Take these,** she Sent to him, **act with haste, I trust you know how they work?**

He nodded. **Seen many human do it.**

**Kiara, and you,** she nodded at the child, **follow me, the rest of you, go with Moja.** She paused, then Sent to Kiara only. **It could be very dangerous, but I prefer to go where I know then where I don't, if you trust me, come with me, I am probably less likely to get caught than them, but it will be very unpleasant.**

Kiara glanced at her Lifemate and her son. **Take Kimbo, my son,** she Sent, **I shall remain with my mate, if we fail, at least my child will feel the wind beneath his wings.**

Sunstar nodded. **We must leave, now!** She Sent.

Kimbo and her immediately left up the stairs, and Moja unlocked a door on the other side of the chamber. The two groups of elves went there seperate ways.

*

Chaos reigned. Twilight had done his job well. The floor above the elf's quaters was filled with frightened animals. The human ran about trying to chase them back up the stairs whilst his dog snapped at them. Kimbo was on foot, the hallway was not wide enough to allow him to spread his wings fully. The dog turned on them as they ran up the stairs. It sprang at Kimbo, who panicked and was about to retreat down the hallway when Sunstar dropped on it from above, Sending viciously at it again. Using the knife she had taken from the kitchen, she plunged it deep into the dogs shoulderblades, surprised at the lack of resistance. There was no need for secrecy anymore. The dog yelped, and whirled, trying to snap at her. Meanwhile, Kimbo ran passed it and down the hallway. Sunstar levitated from its back, removing her bow in case the human tried to prevent the Plains-elf running passed him. He tried to seize the youngster, but a well-placed arrow in his upper arm prevented that. Sunstar was not shooting to kill, not yet.

With one arm wounded, the huamn crouched down, readying the crossbow he had been carrying. With as much speed as she could manage, Sunstar darted around the corner, where Kimbo had already gone, and up the stairs. She heard the sound of stampeding feet. **Hide!** She Sent to Kimbo, and the two of them ducked inside the Deathroom. Only just in time did they close the door. What sounded like many hands of humans ran noisily past the door.

**They have found the escapees,** Kimbo Sent, he sounded very worried.

Sunstar hugged him in an attempt to reassure him.

After what seemed like an eternity, the noise outside had quietened enough so Sunstar dared venture out. Most likely the humans would not realise how many elves were in their tower, and even then, would not suspect that they would be travelling higher into the tower, instead of downwards and out the door. Certainly, it may have been possible for all of them to escape without alerting any of the humans, but Sunstar was not foolishly optomistic. It made more sense to her to waken all the humans and have them attempt to sort out all sorts of problems, then to risk waking up just one and having everyone after her a short time later.

The animals swarmed everywhere, Twilight had certainly not mucked around with that key! With Sunstar gliding along close to the ceiling and Kimbo stealing along the wall, few of the remaining humans even noticed them in the darkness. 

**Get Twilight and Nightfire out of the city,** she Sent to Sable. **We shall meet you by the river.**

If anything, the Plains-elves were offering a handy cover. She hoped they were not closing doors behind them, a few rogue animals in the lower storeys could hardly hurt. As the reached the uppermost of the menagerie floors, they were noticed.

There were only three humans here, trying to force the tawny cat back into a cage with spears, and one of them noticed a flicker of darkness as Kimbo stole past them. He shouted something and pointed. One of the humans immediately dropped his spear and pounced on the elf. Sunstar glanced at the humans. She could hardly shoot the one that had Kimbo, for they were struggling like wild cats and she was just as likely to hit him. But the cat however.

An arrow in the flank seemed to invoke and almost beserker rage on the frightened lion. Although the missile did little more than cut a deep furrow in the creature's hide, it immediately struck out at the humans. It barreled into the spear, flinging the human to the ground, and pounced on the other one, goring him. The human holding Kimbo rolled away as he realised what was happening to his companions, but before he could help, the two patchwork wolves sprang on him, one grabbing his face in its jaws and the other one tearing at his stomach. Kimbo immediately ran down the hallway, through the now very open door to the menagerie and up into the first of the humans' quaters. Oddly enough there were no humans here. It seemed they had all been called off to attend to more important things. Pushing aside the potplant, Sunstar almost forced Kimbo into the narrow window frame.

**Fly,** she Sent to him. But he was having none of it.

**Can't,** he Sent, as though he were little more than a chick. **So high. So much sky.** He tried to push back into the tower, but Sunstar was not letting him. This was one event she had not considered. Kimbo had spent his entire life inside, he had probably never even flown properly, let alone plunged himself into an abyss. Something else startled Sunstar. The faint sound of bootfalls, and what could have been a bow string being pulled taut.

**Must,** she Sent viciously, pushing him out of the window. If he did not fly, he deserved to die!

Just as Sunstar stepped through the window to take flight, there was a clicking sound. Followed by a whir. She more fell than flew from the tower.

*

**Is she going to die?** Kimbo asked, concernedly. He was crouched by the river bank with the Windwalkers. It was a complete mystery to him how the she-elf had managed to glide as far as the river with a crossbow bolt buried in her shoulder.

From here it was just possible to see the tower, although it was made easier by the beacon of flame and smoke that rose from its upper windows. After their escape, Twilight had found that some of the innards of the building were quite flammable. This had probably been assisted by Sable, who had called all the ravens in the area (and a few curious hooded crows) to carry kindling and dry grass into the windows. At the moment, the escaped elves were the least of the humans concern, any that left the tower in pursuit were attacked by ravens. Most of the villagers were minding their own business, it was always safer that way.

Twilight ran one hand across Sunstar's pale cheek. **I know no,** he replied. His own wound had reopened and was staining the bandage again.

**She will,** Sable stated assuredly, **take more than bolt to kill elf.** He grinned at Twilight. Twilight grinned back, but his smile was sad.

Nightfire leaned against a tree, watching with a wry smile of his face. 

Twilight bandaged the injury as best he could. As a hunter he knew minimalistic first aid. **We must return home soon,** he Sent. **For I fear we all need the assistance of a healer.**

Suddenly someone dark and winged glided down to land beside them. Kiara landed effortlessly, and smiled at them.

**We got out!** She Sent. **Not all of us, yes, but five of us got out alive!**

Kimbo threw himself into her arms. She hugged him hard.

**How many died?** Sunstar Sent groggily, startling them all, for they had thought her quite unconscious.

**Three,** Kiara Sent saddly, **And two went tharn and were recaptured. I was afeared the same would happen to my son.** She glanced at Kimbo.

**He did,** Sunstar remarked wryly, **I had to push him out a window.**

Kiara gave her a strange look. **The others are coming on foot. It took us a while to get out of the city, but strangely enough noone seems to be following us.**

**Ravens,** Sable Sent as way of explaination. **Noone like raven.**

**You have wings!** Nightfire remarked, suddenly seeming to work out the conversation.

**Why, yes I do,** Kiara Sent. **Thank you so much for telling me, else I would never have noticed.**

Nightfire looked somewhat downtrodden, then he laughed. **So who gave you the gift of wings?**

The Plains-elf Sent **my father.** At about the same point that Sable Sent **me.**

Kiara gave him a startled look. **You are Koshibo?** She asked.

**Have been, now Sable.**

**But mother said you could neither talk nor send, that was why they called you "he without the voice".**

**I learn.**

She chuckled.

*

It was Lightspeed that found them, beside the river bank. He was somewhat annoyed to discover that they had not waited for him and the other hunters to come and help with the rescue, but he appeared most interested in the Plains-elves. Kiara made it plain from the beginning that despite having a lifemate, she was willing to see what these shorter elves had to offer. Moja had survived, but did not seem particularly disturbed by Kiara's behaviour, the bird-elves fascinated him too. Sunstar spent her time in a semi-daze. Her wound hurt badly, and she tried to keep control of her thoughts but they kept being lost in a haze of confusion. The Windwalkers had not brought the wolves with them, for they needed to travel fast, thus both she and Nightfire had to hobble. In her daze, the she-elf barely noticed that Twilight was not paying all that much attention to Nightstar. The attractive young elf flirted with him continuosly of course, she had to distract him from these new dark-skinned elves somehow.

It was a day before someone asked about Buzzard.

He had escaped, Nightfire assured them Managed to cut his rope apart on a rock and flown away. He had not tried to save them, because the humans had awoken. He had been quite badly injured, and probably had not got far before the action of flying had torn open the wound in his chest. The humans had sent the ugly one, the one that had killed Brightmist, to find him but neither had returned. It was plain they hated the ugly one. It was presumed poor Buzzard was dead, and given their injuries and the size of the plains, not to mention that the humans would probably been onto them sooner or late, it seemed the best idea was to make for home.

*

They had passed the upside-down tree when Sunstar regained complete clarity of her thoughts. She felt as if somehow she had failed. Certainly she had saved the captive elves, but she had been unable to help Brightmist, or Slash, or even Buzzard. Not only that, but she was still confused. Although she still had a certain affection, a craving almost, for Twilight, he had been paying her little attention since Nightstar had returned, whereas Kimbo, who was not nearly as young as his naivete had led her to believe, was showing a considerable amount of it. She was not overly interested in Kimbo, not as more than some fun, yet the one she could imagine lifemating with seemed almost nervous around her. It made sense really. When he had saved her from the jaguar he had keeping his identity hidden, and Nightstar plainly disliked her. Therefore his love for the dark-haired elf must exceed his desire to be seen as Sunstar's friend. Although it bothered her that Twilight seemed unwilling to be her friend, at least he was alive, and happy. But watching all the elves together made her feel alone. Brightblade especially, for he had been the first, and at present only, Windwalker to Recognise a Plains-elf, a beautiful young thing with golden eyes named Isalo. Sunstar wondered if their children would have wings. She slunk off on her own when they made camp that evening. A spot of small game hunting would probably improve her mood.

As she doubled back on their tracks, she realised that something had been following them. Or following the Plains-elves anyway, for the rest were airborne. That could not bode well. Whomever it was must be near by, because the ground was too dry to hold footprints, although it was almost winter now. It was only the trace of a bootmark in the mud beside a waterhole that alerted her to it. If he followed her back to the roost, they could have the humans down on them in hours, and it was unlikely that the humans were very happy about their presence. She would have to investigate, and possibly kill.

It was almost impossible to actually track anything in the plains, so Sunstar chose the easier option - soar as high as she could and look for something suspicious. 

A faint plume of smoke rose from a thicket of scrubby bushes not far from here. Darned humans, she thought to herself, in the entire open plains they burn their fires in the only scrubbush for miles. She flew as close as she dared and dropped to the ground. Unless she wanted to rush in there, arrows flashing, she was grounded.

She pushed her way through the bush, which was taller than her, and could barely make out the shape of a rough rock fireplace. It was burning, their was a bird roasting over it, but there was noone in sight. Curious, she stepped forward, and her world went dark again.

She was being smothered by something, a great blanket was pinning her to the ground whilst a gruff voice muttered things she had no hope of understanding. She struggled feebly, but the pain in her shoulder erupted again. Suddenly the blanket was torn aside and she found that she was pinned under a human male. He was huge, probably twice her height and many times her mass. His face was sunbaked, his eyes small and reddened, his chin hidden by a great bushy beard that made her think of a small animal living on his face. He leaned over so her was face to face with her, whist his huge hands held her arms tight against the ground. His breath smelt of fermented berries and stale smoke. Sunstar almost choked in the waft. He muttered something she could not understand but did not like the sound of. One hand moved from pinning her arm to the ground. She tried to writhe but he tightened his thighs about her body and squeezed so hard that tears welled in her eyes. With one hand he tore open her tunic, so roughly. And suddenly Sunstar realised who he was. The ugly one! The one that had killed Brightmist, and possibly Buzzard. And she was to be the next victim. She remembered the anger he had experienced when Brightmist had fought back, remembered how he had beaten her, had cut her throat. Had cut her throat! She could just lie back, let him indulge in whatever repulsive things he desired and try to escape later, alive but shattered. But sometimes death was better. As one crude hand fondled one somewhat firm breast (the chest of Windwalkers is most muscle, for they need it to fly), she tried to resist the urge to scream. As the other hand moved from pinning her arm, perhaps encouraged by the fact she was not struggling, to stray down to her leggings, Sunstar moved.

She sat upright as best as she could, bringing her head as hard into his chin as she could manage. He jerked back, startled, and she managed to writhe free. Her weapons had somehow been removed from her, but it did not matter for an arrow suddenly appeared as if from nowhere and buried itself between his eyes. His eyes crossed comically, as though he were trying to see the arrow, and then he toppled backwards, his legs still bent in a kneel.

**Swiftbow?** Sunstar Sent to any nearby elven mind. Surely it had to be he, but why had he followed her.

**Close, but not quite,** replied Twilight, as he stepped from the bushes. **It looks like I've saved your sorry posterior again.** He grinned, to show he was not serious in his mocking.

Relieved, and somewhat emotionally drained, Sunstar threw herself sobbing into Twilight's arms.

**Why did you not shoot sooner?** She asked him.

**Because I had to be sure of getting a clear shot,** he replied. **I did not want that bastard to survive if I had not the slightest chance of killing him dead on the spot. Don't worry,** he continued, patting her on the head, it was not in the least patronising, **if he had of done anything else to even remotely hurt you I was going to shoot him in the arse.**

Sunstar had to laugh at that one.

**He didn't hurt you, did he?** The dapple-winged elf asked, the concern so evident Sunstar wondered if he was even attempting to hide it.

She shook her head. **Not really. Why did you save me again?**

**It's my new hobby,** he Sent with a chuckle. **Saving maidens. I could not very well not save you, could I just, after you risked your life for Nightfire and me.**

**I did it mainly for you,** she replied. **I don't quite know why, because you've got Nightstar and all.**

Her sentence was not the world's most cohesive statement, but Twilight seemed to understand, **I've got Nightstar?** His Sending was tinged with incongrety. Sunstar felt foolish.

**She has been doing nothing but trying to attract you since we met up with the hunters. I suspected you two were lovemates.**

At that Twilight did chuckle. **Nightstar is nought but a shallow female who pretends to be a hunter to try and impress other hunters. She may be fun in some ways, but I would hardly say I had her.**

And suddenly he scooped Sunstar up in his arms, seemingly with little effort. She let out a startled squeal that was half delight, half the fear that he would stumble and drop her. And he kissed her on the forehead.

**Besides, the night is dull, I much prefer the sun,** he Sent.

That statement confused Sunstar, she thought she understood the connotations, but hardly dared to hope. 

Once they were outside the circlet of bushes where the ugly one had died, he laid her on the ground, and stretched out next to her, supporting himself on one arm. He kept his wounded side in the air. He ran one hand down the side of her face, and it was neither crude nor rough. He leaned forward and kissed the tears from her cheeks. She didn't know if they were tears of fear or joy, or what, but she was not about to stop him.

**I was just waiting for you to Recognise the Plains-elf,** he Sent, little more than a whisper. **And I felt bad about it, because Recognition is good.** He paused. **It would have shattered me if you had Recognised him.**

**There is only one elf I want to Recognise,** she Sent with a tear-filled grin. **But we can't always chose whom. You know Sable has Recognized at least three times?** She did not know why she said this, perhaps she was nervous.

Twilight shook his head, and she could tell he did not care less. And then something strange happened, as she reached up one hand to caress his face, her talent worked on him, and suddenly she _knew_...

Knew how for the better part of two turns - almost since the Recognition between Sable and Magpye, he had wanted her. Not as a friend, not as a mere lovemate, but as something more - a soulmate and lifemate both. She knew why he had kept it secret, not because she was so young his peers would mock him, but because she was so young he did not want to scare her with those sort of thoughts, those sorts of commitments. He had watched her, as a guardian would, but he was ashamed of this, and when she had been attacked by the jaguar and not recognised him, he had been glad, it gave him the chance to hide away. And then she had guessed, and he had not known how to react. She had seemed angry at him, and was so vibrantly alive that he had been scared of confessing anything to her, lest he kill that vibrancy. And she had never shown any real interest in him,not that he noticed anyway. And then Nightstar had come along, and he had been flattered, and lonely. She had been fun, but nothing more and he did not want fun anymore. He wanted someone who was a creator like him, an artist. Then the hunt had gone badly wrong and the entire party had been captured or killed, bar one. He had thought all was lost, but he had done his best, he had woven dreams to lead the flock to him, sending them to Sunstar for she was the mystic, and the one he loved. And she had come, and saved him, nearly dying herself. He had felt guilty, and seeing Kimbo and her together, had thought it must work, was waiting and dreading the day they Recognised. And then she had wandered off alone, and he had felt her pain, and wanted to help her, and saved her life once again.

Sunstar was shaking and crying as she finished reading Twilight. There was something that made it at least as emotionally disturbing as the early Lorrelei's death or Brightmist's rape. It was so intense, so powerful. Everything she had suspected was wrong, he did not love Nightstar, he loved her! After a moments pause, which it took to recover from the intensity of the vision, she grabbed him, pulling him onto her, delighting in the feel of him against her. **How did you do that?** She asked.

**Because you are a wonderful elf,** he answered, completely misinterpreting her question. **You are a creator, like I am, and so alive, that you make me feel alive just being near you.**

She laughed and licked his nose. **I didn't mean that, silly,** she Sent, **I meant hide that from me until now.**

**The same was I sent you the dreams,** he replied, startling her for she had missed that part of his thoughts. **I am a mystic like you, only I use my thought to weave dreams whereas you use yours to read thoughts.**

**And mystics have natural barriers to emotion reading,** she replied, remembering the same trouble she had with Skysong. **So how come I never knew this earlier?**

**Because my father was a hunter, so I became a hunter too, and nobody even suspected I was a mystic in my soul.**

**Enough of talk,** Sunstar replied mischeviously, as she ran one hand down his chest, tracing patterns on his flesh.

And the rest, I must say, will be left to your imagination!

   [1]: http://members.nbci.com/Sharna



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